


Discord in Another World

by 0neWhoWanders, JackWhite17, MissAnthrophy, ShadyJakey, SirParacelsus, Srlojohn



Category: RWBY
Genre: Atlas Academy (RWBY), But not in a romantic sort of way., Canon-Typical Violence, Comedy, Crack Treated Seriously, Dark Comedy, Gen, Mystery, Original Character-centric, Pre-Canon, Self-Insert, Semblances are Meant to Be Broken, Slow Burn, Totally a Parody
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:02:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 29,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27898771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0neWhoWanders/pseuds/0neWhoWanders, https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackWhite17/pseuds/JackWhite17, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissAnthrophy/pseuds/MissAnthrophy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadyJakey/pseuds/ShadyJakey, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirParacelsus/pseuds/SirParacelsus, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Srlojohn/pseuds/Srlojohn
Summary: It's not every day that a group of fanfiction writers gets isekai'd to the world they had spent so long writing for. Whisked away to Remnant under uncertain circumstances, how can eight writers survive the harsh world which now surrounds them? How can they all get home? And what was the real reason they were all brought together in the first place? They don't yet know the answers, but there is one thing for certain. It likely involves gaming the system and putting their collective insanity into practice! Slight warning, we're all completely insane (except for John. lol).AO3 Pen Names: 0neWhoWanders as Zaira RougeShadyJakey as Jacob CarbonSirParacelsus as Michael DoradoMissAnthrophy as Melissa AnthropyJackWhite17 as Jack WhiteShadow as Shadow MyrtleXavier as Xavier SantaraSrloJohn as John Green
Kudos: 7





	1. How did we get here and why does Remnant smell like pancakes?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Avistar123](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avistar123/gifts).



> Chapter 1: How did we get here and why does Remnant smell like pancakes?  
> This our collab fic where we get isekai'd, we'll be making this fic for fun so it won't be all that realistic

It was a day like any other. Birds chirped. Cars honked in the distance and people went about their normal days or nights. Around the world, a group of privileged few were interacting through a small Discord server. It was called the RWBY Nook, and it had been a growing community of fanfiction readers and writers that grew closer with each passing day.

Whether it was noon or midnight, there was something going on. Weird things, like star wars gif-offs, or more normal things like fanfiction prompt fests, the Nook was like an online home for its members to be themselves in ways they might not have liked to be in the real world.

And then the message was received. Posted in The-Coffee-Corner channel, the general discussion channel for the Nook, Krumb Councilman and altogether official ‘Server Babby’, AVI, posted a link and a small description.

Hey guys! Check out this really cool link I found! It’s like a new RWBY-type game. It feels like you are actually in Remnant! ;)

Of course, being the knobs that Nook members were known for being; especially online, the link was clicked. And as they say, the rest was history…

* * *

  
At first, Melissa “Miss” Anthropy dismissed the link Avi sent on the general channel. She wasn’t one to normally click on links. A little later however, after scrolling through the Nook’s Prompt channel, she noticed AVI had DMed her. "Click this. WR fluff ahoy!" The message read. It was the same link as the one on the general channel, by the looks of things. Like the gullible shipper she was, Miss clicked the link. Suddenly, she was transported through the screen of her phone. Sucked in and falling within a new world. Miss fell on her butt near a frozen lake. The first thing she noticed was that she was cold, Really cold. This was not an ideal environment to wear the cosplay school uniform she had on.

* * *

  
Getting home Jack White got a private message from AVI. It was the first place he looked before his usual hop into the Nook Discord Server. Without even a second thought, he clicked the link, not even bothering to read it.

Luckily for Jack this had been a day that he had college. Tired and ready to unwind, he had checked his phone before even thinking about changing into his more casual clothing. He was dressed in a polo shirt, but more importantly he was in his outdoors trousers and his steel-toed boots.

Sucked through his screen, without even a shout on his lips, he fell through it, plummeting to the ground. He hit the ice hard, breaking it with an almighty crack and sending him sinking into the freezing water. He sputtered out for a gulp of air, taking in a breath of ice water instead.

Jack flung his arms out wildly, hoping to grip onto anything at all. The water was shocking his system, unprepared for the sudden cold. He fought against the impulse to freeze up, treading as best as he could in his heavy workman boots. “Help!” He choked out as best he could.

Miss suddenly heard someone shouting. She looked around to see where the noise was coming from. On her right she caught the sight of a person drowning in the frozen lake.

She quickly dove right in. Stretching her hands to grab the stranger. With all of her strength. She pulled as hard as she could. This went for minutes with intense pain and struggle but she finally got the person out of the lake. Both exhausted from the effort.

Taking deep breaths, Jack was silent for a moment before he spoke, "T-t-thank you." Grateful, but not sure whether or not it was happening normally or the current events. Could have been the cold

Miss just stood there. Freezing up, literally and figuratively, as she couldn't get the words out of her mouth to say a simple "You're welcome".

"Well I don't know who you are but do you have any idea where we are?" Jack asked, cursing the fact that he was still stuttering as his hands shook, still he tried to calm himself at the sight of the stranger. If she wanted to hurt him then she would have done so already. Jack found himself able to relax as the stranger just stood there seemingly as confused as himself. He sat down as he wrapped his arms around his body trying warm himself up from the cold.

Okay Miss. Act like a normal person and talk to the guy. He's literally freezing. Wait, why am I not cold? Maybe I'm in shock. God this is hard. Anyways here goes nothing

"Oh uhh. Alaska maybe? Also hi! I'm Melissa by the way,"

"Looks like I'm a long way from Kansas then" Jack mumbled quietly before pausing. "So-sorry about that, my name's Jack and I'll be surprised if this is Alaska. I'm from England," he replied.

Alaska seems fun but I wouldn't want to go under these conditions. This is just a dream.

Miss considered the prospect that this might be a dream as well. So she pinched herself to see if it was true.

Nope still numb. It would probably be wise that we go to someplace warm.

"Hi Jack! Soo... We'll probably die if we stay here for any longer so. Want to come with me and not die?"

God that was a terrible way of saying it

Jack shrugged and pulled himself to his feet, this may have been a dream but he's cold so

"Not dying sounds like fun" he replies.

Some time passed as the two of them went out to search for someplace warm. As they were walking with their hands in their pocket (Miss hated her skirt so much. It was so cold) she didn't notice that she was talking to herself.

"What the heck was that link Avi sent me. Don't tell me this is narnia or something."

There was a pause.

"Wait Avi?" Jack said pausing as he thought back to what the hell she just said. "You mean the server baby?" Jack blurted out, a look of confusion on his face as he stared at the girl.

"Yeah, him... Wait." Miss continued on her walk and looked at this Jack fellow as well. "Did you just say server baby?!"

"Uhm, yeah, it's this nickname for a friend. It's a little weird, but so's the other people in the server" Jack replied casually. It's just a dream anyway. Of course the girl his mind made up would know about Avi.  
"Server? Like discord server?" Miss suddenly stopped walking for a moment to process this revelation.

"Well yeah, good guess," Jack said nodding

"This is going to sound strange and weird on so many levels."

She held her hands up in a surrender gesture. "Are you the same jack? Like the Jack White I know from the server?" Her face looked way too concerned to just be a dream imagination.

"I mean, I might be? Jack White is my full name but there's plenty of people with that name" Jack asked, a little weirded out and paranoid. "Am I supposed to know you?"

No freaking way. It is Jack! Okay be cool. Since you know him personally you can do this. Wait, why does he look like that Harry Potter guy from the movies?

"Oh my god. It's me! Miss! Like, the miss that does white rose fanfiction and all of that...."

Oh god did I just admit that I write fanfiction to a maybe complete stranger. Please end me. Please be right.

"Wait Miss? What are the chances that we would run into each other!" Jack said before remembering that it was a dream "Aren't you an adult though why are you in a school girl uniform?" he asked, eyeing the outfit.

She was embarrassed that the jack she knew in the nook got to see her wearing something weird.

"D-Don't remind me!" She covered her face with her hands due to the insane embarrassment she was feeling. A blush creeping on her face from either the cold or the situation.

"You know me. Weirdo extraordinaire. Hehehe.... Why look at the time! We might die if we stay here any longer. Let's go!" She changed the subject as smoothly as possible.

Knowing it was a dream, Jack wasn't that worried but on the off chance that he would see other people from the nook he discretely took a photo wanting to remember the moment. "Yeah I'm coming," he said before pausing. "Is it weird that I'm getting tsundere vibes from you?"

"It's intentional," she continued moving forward. Embarrassed again.

"So what do you think brought us here?" Jack asked, keeping pace.

"Dunno. Probably the link Avi sent us. I thought it was a fic but Avi scammed me." She pouted into the cold air at the deceit.

Jack scratched the back of his head awkwardly at that. "Yeah I should probably start reading the links I get," Jack paused, remembering what he had on him. "Hey Miss look at this!"

* * *

John Green, more commonly known online as Srlojohn, was not one for being gullible. Not like his fellow peers. He ignored the link AVI sent, not remotely trusting any internet link without a proper imbed. And the link suspiciously looked like that of a song by a notable vocalist known as Rick Astley. He was sure of it. However, as he intended to quote the message just above it, he misclicked, and the link whisked him away. He landed with a thud on cobblestone streets, a strange mix of cold and hot air breezing through the alleyway he had landed in. He looked up to see the ominous form of a large city floating above him. “Crud,” he thought, before shoving his hands into his jacket pockets, and attempting to assess his situation.

* * *

  
Zaira was eating chips as she lay on her bed in the exact position her chiropractor said not to sit in. When she saw the link, she debated between clicking the shady link, just like every teacher has told her not to do, or just going back to youtube to find the next song to listen to.

But after so many weeks in the Nook, she trusted Avi enough to not send her to shady websites. And so she clicked it.

Immediately, she felt herself fall from her bed and out into the freezing cold. "Oomph!" She gasped, landing into a deep patch of snow. Poking her head out, she looked around. It was... cold obviously. And sunny. Definitely not the night-time it had been in Canada when she had clicked that mysterious link.

Zaira looked around, brushing snow off of her sweater, and pulling on her hood. She let out a little shiver, groaning about the feeling of snow melt on her socks.  
"I'm going to have to walk in wet socks aren't I," she muttered, shoving her hands into her sweater pockets. She looked around, seeing that she was lying in a snowbank on the side of a cobbled road.

In front of her was a man. A tall man, but that honestly wasn't saying much, given her own short stature. He looked oddly confused as to where he was, much like her.

"Hello?" She tried, calling out to him. “Not like there was much else she could do,” she thought, shaking her head. She was fairly certain this was a dream. Maybe 75% sure.

The man turned around, looking for the voice, and saw Zaira who had called out to him.

"Yes ma'am?" He said with an odd accent. It sounded like a soft southern accent from the States. Not at all what she had expected to hear in a place like this one.

Zaira quirked her head. It definitely wasn't Canadian.

"I think I'm lost. Do you know where exactly I am? It's... erm... I can't really explain it, but where am I?" How would she? Yes, hello mister. I was lying in bed twenty seconds ago, prepared to go to bed and now I’m standing in broad daylight and out in the snow. With no socks.

Zaira crossed her arms over her chest. Or bra.

"Can't claim to know myself ma'am." He replied, just confused by anyone else.

"But considering the floating city above us, and other information I'm personally privy too, namely a certain friend of mine, I'd wager we're in a city known as Mantle, though II very well could be mistaken." He ended his statement with a shrug.

He stopped for a moment as if he remembered something.

"Ah, but where are my manners? My name is... John Green, at your service ma'am." He said with a sweeping motion of his arm in front of him. "I'd tip my hat, but I happen to have lost mine somewhere on my journey here."

Zaira let out a weak chuckle. "Ya, I think I lost my shoes too."

"Wait, did you say Mantle? Like RWBY show, Mantle? Cool. Oh, I'm... Zaira. Zaira Rouge."

Zaira held out her hand for him to shake, which John did, grasping her hand firmly but respectfully.

"I believe so ma'am," he said with a nod. "Looks like I may be here for a while. You wouldn't happen to know the nearest unemployment office would you?" He asked, looking about.

"I'll need some manner of employment if I intend to live here."

"No need to call me ma'am. Makes me feel old. I'm only 23. Please call me Zaira. Or Zee. Everyone does. And as you could probably have guessed, I'm pretty new to this place too. Last thing I remember honestly, was sitting in bed on Discord. Clicked a link my friend sent me, then poof, here I am." Zaira spoke with her hands, popping her 'P' as well. "Heh, I should probably find employment too. Do you think anyone is in the market for engineers?"

Zaira frowned. "You weren't confused when I said Mantle from RWBY?"

"A mite ma- I mean Zaira, sorry, it's a habit. Would this friend happen to be an Avistarr, known as ‘the Server Baby’ perhaps?" He asked, the pieces falling into place in his mind.

"Yes!" Zaira nodded. "Oh god, that link was a pun. I fell victim to a pun! You're from the server then. Umm..." Zaira's face grew red, "do you happen to know someone named  
0neWhoWanders? Or.. Or... 0neWhoWineAunts, spelt with a zero instead of an 'O'?"

Zaira inwardly cursed herself for the silly Discord name. It sounded fine to read, but to say out loud? No, never again. When she got back home, she was going to change it to something sensible. Like ZairaRouge. Or Hotstuff.

"As a matter of fact I do! If you are she, then I'm Srlojohn, the moderator. A pleasure to meet you in the flesh, I wish it had been in better circumstances."

"Agreed. You're... a lot taller than I thought." Zaira shook the thought from her head.  
"So, to just sum things up, we clicked on a link that Avi sent us. Got transported to Mantle, in the RWBY-verse and are now just... here? In the flesh? We've been isekai'd.  
Do you think there's anybody else? If there's two of us, there is bound to be more." "Perhaps, there's probably about.... 20? Active users?” John said, doing the mental math. “At least those that are active often enough for Avi to bother sending a link to. We make two, so that leaves at least 18 others, though that is a high estimate."

John looked to the snowbank nearby, and noticed a blue navy fatigue cap perched on top of it.

"Ah! There it is!" He said as he scooped it up and planted it on his head. "Much better. My hat," he said smiling, by way of explanation.

"Nice hat," Zaira said, already cursing herself for not knowing what else to say. She was definitely freaking out. She knew she was freaking out. She doesn't talk this much unless she was freaking out. He knew she was freaking out. Okay, he probably didn't know she was freaking out, but she was confident that her inner thoughts had said freaking out enough times for the word to lose its meaning.

She started fiddling with her iron ring, thankful that it was still firmly attached to her pinky finger on her dominant hand.

"We should look around for others? Might be a bit strange, since we don't know what any of us look like. Hell, I didn't even know what you looked like. Maybe shout something out that is recognizable only to the Nook? Nook?" Zaira repeated the word 'nook' two different ways, since it sounded weird on her lips the first time.

John noticed her fidgeting, and tried to soften his features.

"Perhaps we could, but first we need to settle ourselves before we begin our search. We’re of no use to them if we have no place for them to go."

"Okay, I can agree with that. We have no money, 'lien here', and no ph-" Zaira reached for her sweatpants pocket. "Phone?"

Out from her pocket she pulled out a thin device that had most assuredly not been there when she was back home in Canada. "Is this a scroll?"

John peered over. "It does appear to be yes." He put a hand into his pocket and pulled out one of his own. "Well that's convenient."

“I wonder....” he thought, and opened the banking application on the device.

To his luck, a decent amount of lien was in the account. "Hey, check the banking application," he suggested.

Following John's instruction, she did just that. "Yup. Not a bad sum of money either. That's lucky at least. I totally thought we'd have to get a job. Like, I'm an engineer in training, so I'm pretty sure I could get one, but at the same time, I don't think dust physics was a part of my university curriculum… Do you have any contacts? I don't...  
want to add me?"

"Sure" he said with a smile, tapping his scroll against hers. "We'll still probably need to either get a job, or attend an academy, though I'm not sure how viable the latter is."

Zaira nodded. "It would be cool to attend an academy though. Get a handle on your aura and all that. Thanks," she said, pocketing her scroll. "If you're open to it, I think the first thing we should do is get some winter gear. I don't know about you, but wet socks are terrible. I may be Canadian, but frostbite is most definitely still a thing."

"And I need a bra..." Zaira mumbled under her breath.  
"Hrm..."

"You could take off your socks and I could carry you?" He suggested, "At least until we get to a hotel and we can get settled." He held out his hands as if ready to carry Zaira’s weight.

Zaira looked at her feet, squishing into the melting sludge that was once snow. Shaking her head, she said, "no I think I'm alright for now. Maybe next time. I should be good at least until we find a store that sells boots. I don't know what the prices are like here, but if they are anything like the States or Canada, then we should have plenty. Not enough to live luxuriously, but enough for food and hopefully a night or two in a hotel."

Zaira motioned forward, picking a random direction to walk in. "C'mon. Let's check out the windows and see if anyone is selling some clothes."

"If you're sure..." he said, looking concerned before following, his hands behind his back.

The two of them walked down the street, passing by a few shops selling food, and one selling appliances, but nothing they needed. Until one store.

"Of course it's not the shoe store first," Zaira grumbled. "John, you stay here. I'm going inside for a few minutes."

A few minutes later, Zaira came out without a bag, but definitely feeling a little better. It still left her feet cold, but at least she no longer felt like she had to cross her arms the entire time

"Okay,” she said with a small smile, “onto the next shop. You can stay here if you want to."

"If you so wish." He said, taking a rest on the nearest bench. Of course he would get stuck with a girl, whose first instinct when getting trapped in a new world was to go shopping. Just his luck.

"Okay, I will be back soon. Text or call if you need anything." Once more on her own, Zaira fell into her usual silence. Immediately she relaxed. Talking always strained her, especially to a new person.

But on her own, it felt like any number of times she travelled to unknown locations and went sight-seeing. It was only a short while before she found what she was looking for. The door opened to a soft jingle of door-chimes, signaling her presence.

"At least that is familiar. I hope they have... okay, and then boots."

Zaira wandered over to a section of hats, choosing a dark purple one with a dark red, almost rouge pompom on top. It was thick and warm. Perfect for now. It would all be better once she had figured out how to unlock her aura. This was Remnant after all. There was no way in hell she wasn't going to try and unlock it at some point.

Boots were next. She chose a fairly cheap pair, not wishing to waste what little money she had on clothes. Like her toque, it was thick and warm, able to be worn without socks. And just as purple at her hat. She didn’t care much for fashion, but boy was she glad that the two matched so nicely.

She paid quickly, and then left the shop, not wishing her partner to be left alone for too long.

John hoisted himself off the bench, and strode over. "Ready to roll? Where to next?" "I'm all set for now. My mind is thinking that we should either find a place to spend the night, or look for somewhere to get some money. Or figure out how to find more of us. Maybe a radio-broadcast or a website we can create that only members of the Nook would realize it's a message?" Zaira made a negative sound. "No, I'm thinking rest or work is next. You're also in college right? I think I remember you saying that."

"I am. I'm thinking that a motel for the night is a good idea" he said, pulling open his scroll to find a map. "There should be at least a few in Mantle."

The motel John had chosen for them was a small one and definitely on the cheaper side, not that Zaira minded one bit. It suited her fine and was likely one that she would have chosen too. She was quite pleased that of all the people to be stuck in Remnant with, it would be someone with a similar mindset. Even if he was much younger.

And taller.

They walked up to the front desk, where a teen was waiting, texting on his scroll. No doubt doing this as a part time job.

"Uhh, hi. Do you have any rooms available for the night?" Zaira asked sheepishly. She hated this sort of public interaction.

"Welcome! Sorry for getting so lost on the job, ehhh, we don't get that many visitors. And yeah we do have a couple of rooms open, we have a couples room, a single room and ehhh, a party room. The couples one is best for two people, the single one for one and the party room is for like six to eight people."

He looked between the two of us and waggled his eyebrows, "Should I book you with the couple's room?"

"It has two beds, correct?" John said, serious as always.

“Yes, it does. Quite unfitting for a couple, at least I... assume you two are? Unless you're expecting more people in which case the party room might be better…” The teen looked between the two of us, John with a grim expression, shaking his head and Zaira looking on the verge of laughter. “Also, don't ask why I thought you guys might have more people, it's just something in my subconscious."

Zaira rolled her eyes. Like that was the part of what he said that they were both disagreeing with.  
"While I'm always open to a party, I think one man is enough for me. For tonight at least," Zaira almost cracked out into laughter as she spoke. "Two beds is perfect. And no, we're not a couple. He's obviously too short for me."

Zaira patted John on his shoulder, needing to reach up to do so. He was nearly a foot taller than her.

"Uhm, okay then, I'll book you in the couple's room, even though you aren't one, which is a little strange, but oh well, sometimes people don't believe in the inherent romanticism of height differences. Just a second, that will be 25 lien per day."

"That's fine," John said, tapping his scroll onto the scanner. "Thank you."

"I'll pay you back," Zaira said as the two walked up to their room for the night.

"Nah. We're in this together, might as well share resources." John shrugged as he opened the door to the stairwell to climb up to their room on the second floor.

"Hope you enjoy your stay!" They heard from the concierge, who was waving at them from behind his desk.

"Sounds good to me.” Zaira said with a smile, turning to look at John. “I'm glad I'm not in on this alone. No offence."

"None taken. And it was no big deal, I'm sure you'd do the same," He replied.

* * *

Michael couldn’t help but wonder if Avi’s account had been hacked. He knew better than to click on strange links on the internet. Still, after observing a few more minutes, he comes to the conclusion that Avi is all right. And so, he clicks on the link-

-and finds himself falling through the sky-

“Bloody Hell!” He screams as he lands right into a cushiony pile of snow. At first, there is a moment of silence as he thinks on what happens. Did...did he get kidnapped? Is this a dream?

Thoughts still as he stares at the stuff he landed on. Is this...snow?  
He spent all his life in the Equator. Never once had he encountered snow. All thoughts came to an abrupt halt as he ran his hands through the cold phenomenon, holding it in his hand as it melted in his palm.

And then, he lets out a cheer, diving into the snow, laughing loudly. Snow! At long last! He laughs, ignoring the feeling of being watched. All is well. And all manner of thing, shall be well!

* * *

His body burned as he held his arms forward. Stretching out the back muscle as he groaned. Exercise was important for the mind and frankly after work Jakey needed his stretches.

With a slide into his chair he ruined his posture to look at a new message from a friend. Avi sent a link. Not only that but he was sending a RWBY game. Of course he clicked it assuming only the best as his body was quickly transported down. The rush of cold on his face made it feel like he just went outside.

He fell for a few seconds before hitting arm-first into a pine tree. The snow falling off and branches bending as he hit several of them to break his fall before hitting the solid ground. His vacation shirt ruined as he felt it stick to his body in mind-bending cold wetness. The sunglasses and undershirt seemed fine enough though they were still wet.

Almost instantly Jakey looked around in terror as he saw what seemed to be a psycho jumping around in the snow. They didn’t seem to be paying him any attention though.

‘Maybe I can escape’ He thought to himself just standing and staring at the man still going. Just as underdressed as himself.

Jakey said nothing though as he approached the man dancing around. Sounds of excitement filling the air as he yelped and Jakey just stared in confusion.

Michael halted his laughter. There was a guy staring.

Michaels mind jumped to the possibility that perhaps getting arrested on the first day of his adventure in the winter wonderland would not be for the best. He sighs, gathering his breath as he calmed down and matched the stare he was getting.  
Jakey composed himself as well as he could to the man looking at him and could only respond with break eye contact. The how and why was the part on his mind as he gave a stare towards the guy dancing in the snow like a psychopath.

"Hey, are you from the server? Like the fanfiction one." Jakey said, a cough coming up on the end of the question. Seemed like that winter cough carried over here as well. Jakey hated repeating the same thing over and over. There was no point for a writer to do the same thing again and again. Meeting between two people should feel different damnit!

Michael decided to take a moment to, you know, think. And well, simply put;

He was afraid. Afraid of the unknown. Afraid of never going home again. Afraid of never seeing his parents. But he quashes those fears. He always wanted to be independent right? So maybe now is the time for it. He breathes, in and out, trying to calm himself.

When he stops, he turns to look at the fellow next to him. Server. Could he mean the Discord server? What are the chances that someone else got dragged in here with him? Fairly likely perhaps, considering it was posted in the general channel.

And so Michael breathes again, fixing a smile in his face as he ignores the bitter cold and the knot forming in his gut, “Yes, I am. I go by Paracelsus there.”

"Oh cool, I'm Jakey," He said plainly like it was obvious. "I think everyone else has a partner so you wanna hang out?," The words weren't exactly a question but more of an inevitability as Jakey walked forward. He was decently sure they weren't the only ones in this world and if he knew the other members of the server chances were they also got sorted into partners. That's the kinda plot bs they love to do.

“Sure, I guess,” Michael thinks about Jakey, wondering about him. They should probably try to find a way to do something. Like...survive. Idly, he decides to look around and notices something in the pocket of his own shorts. He checks it out, and spots a...a strange thin device, “What on Earth is this?” He mumbles, fiddling with it for a moment.

“Hey Jakey, you don’t happen to know where we are?”

Jakey simply looked back and pointed upwards at the massive floating city. Looking exactly like it had in the show.  
"Remnant, close to Mantle" Jakey gave his new partner his answer and a glance before walking along. “No point going over it again,”

“Wha—”

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Michael asked, breaking through the silence of the winter wind. Voice almost making Jakey jump as he just gave a simple nod.

Jakey was focused on the scroll in his hands. Checking through its various functions as he kept the map program open in the background. It was like a worse iphone. It made Jakey think about how the hell he even got here.

It was insane to think that somehow they ended up here from a stupid internet link.  
Maybe Avi was hacked? Maybe Avi became a god or something. Hell if he knows.

"The Inn is only a few more..." Right, remnant had their own system of measure. "It's either 5 minutes or 50 minutes depending on how big this map is, I don’t know how to zoom in."

"Hey… Didn't you have a fic kinda like this?" Para asked as he continued messing around with his scroll dropping it a few times. How durable were those things?

Jakey sighed as the wind began picking up and he grabbed the sunglasses hanging on his flamingo vacation shirt's button. Seems sunglasses were the same in remnant at least. He heard a small crick of ice as he felt the water in his shirt begin to freeze over.

"Yeah but that fic had me inside the body of Adam. My body was never meant to make the jump as well. This is not the way I wanted to self insert myself into the story." Jakey said a bit bothered at the mistaken details. He prayed to whatever force there was in remnant to get to the location marked on his scroll as fast as possible. The less conversation the better honestly.

It seemed like someone heard him as he caught sight of what looked like a few buildings in the storm.

A sigh of relief later he was inside with Micheal. Looking out at the wind blowing faster and faster as Jakey felt himself begin to shake as the cold began hitting his body in full force.

He shook the snowflakes out of his hair as he saw a nice old lady walk towards the boys. The house didn't look like a hotel or anything like that. It seemed like a regular house that was turned into an inn, seemed like they had spare rooms. It reminded Jakey of a large cottage as the kind old lady walked towards them a set of towels in a small weaved basket. A small desk sat in the cramped space nearby the door as she squeezed herself inside and spoke.

“Alright ya ragamuffin little boys, what do you two want with this place?”

Jakey quickly wiped his assumptions away. Why was she designed like she was going to be super nice? Jakey stared in awe at the sheer disrespect being put forward by the woman. He was sure he wasn't a fanus. He even checked his body. It's literally just his normal body.

"We would like 2 rooms, please. One for myself and my friend here" He said as he motioned to Michael bouncing around in place like a drug addict, wondering if maybe he's the reason the lady was looking down on them.

"As long as you don't cause any trouble and can pay up, we'll get along juuust fine. It will be about 50 Lien for both of ya each night. Meals included. Just don’t kiss the cook," The woman's crabby voice did not match anything about the appearance and it was still sending Jakey and Micheal spinning.

Michael nodded, and quietly raised his scroll, “Do you take credit card err scroll credit?” Whatever it was called these days. Bah!

“Scroll Credit. I haven't heard of witchcraft like a credit card in these parts."

‘Credit is such an unoriginal name for a currency’ Jakey thought to himself as he pulled out his scroll. That year working as a product tester may have paid horrible but at least it taught him how to learn to use tools he'd never seen in his life.

"I'll pay for this," Jakey said, unsure if he was being ripped off or not as he performed the tap and saw a small animation play on the scroll screen. "The rooms are just upstairs?"

"Yeah, there's enough for about four of you, at least if you have more friends coming around." She said, eyeing the men up and down, as Jakey tried desperately to figure out why he was being scoped by a lady who was closer to death than he was to happiness.

"It's just us mam" Jakey said as he looked around. "Actually, has anyone else with black or brown hair come around here?" He asked with his head tilted. Those were the most common hair colours on earth so if anyone else from the server was also isekai’d chances were they would look like that too. "Or just folks who don't seem dressed for the weather?"

"Not as far as I know of. Why? You expecting some visitors? Under the bed is where we keep the protec— ?"

"Nope just a feeling," Jakey interrupted as fast as he could as he watched the payment go through. "Could you just lead us to our rooms?"

* * *

Omake

Being on Remnant had to have been the strangest thing to ever happen to, well, anyone. Maybe not to Rick or Morty, but they chose to travel between dimensions. Not do whatever Zaira had been doing. But there she was. In Remnant.

Mantle of all places.

Just. Walking around.

Looking for shops to end the squish-squelching of wet socks on equally wet cobblestone.

Zaira’s stomach gurgled. “Hush tummy! This is not the time and most definitely not the place. I fed you chips like 15 minutes ago.”

Unperturbed by her eloquent reasoning, her stomach continued to gurgle. Zaira frowned, taking in a large breath of air to try and calm herself down.

“Great, now I’m smelling things.”

Zaira looked around. Exactly as she thought. Some small coffee shops. A grocery store, and generally things that did not normally smell like maple syrup. Then why was every whiff of air so filled with the glorious… mouth-watering…

“No!” Zaira chastised herself, shaking the thought of food out from her head. “Not the time, nor place.”

She forced herself into a march, stomping down through the snow, breathing from her mouth as the thick scent of syrup still permeated the air.

“I can’t take this anymore!” Zaira bellowed, getting odd looks from the normal people  
around her. “Why does Remnant smell like pancakes?!?!”


	2. First steps in a new world and Jack discovers gravity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2: First steps in a new world and Jack discovers gravity  
> Everyone is continuing on their journey in Remnant, and some new faces appear!  
> Introducing:  
> Xavier as Xavier Santara  
> Shadow as Shadow Myrtle

Xavier looked at the link Avi had sent, the url mostly being a bunch of jargon. 'Yeah, I wasn't born yesterday. To hell with that,' he thought as he looked up to cross the street. 

Halfway across the road, the toe of his boot caught on... a bug? Xavier hit the ground hard, knocking his head on the lip of the pavement. He rubbed his forehead, grumbling at the large gash in his eyebrow. That was gonna leave a mark. He looked up to see his phone, lagging just long enough for him to see that he had clicked the link on the way down. 

"Ah shi-"

Xavier was cut off by a face full of snow. Winter in Dublin was cold, but it sure as hell hadn't been snowing when he was in town. He pushed himself up, his denim jacket, jeans, and hoodie now soaked. Swearing under his breath he looked up to see a giant floating city that looked a lot like Atlas

"Avi, you little rat."

* * *

After arriving at work one pleasant morning, Shadow decided he’d give a look over the Nook. He felt obligated to since he was one of the Discord server’s admins, and he liked reading what everyone had to say while he slept.

Scrolling all the way to the earliest messages, he saw that Avi had posted a link leading to a RWBY game. Taking a look around and seeing a few customers at the mechanic shop, he shrugged and tapped on the link.

Suddenly, he fell backwards, his back hitting the cold, soft ground rather than his sturdy chair. Looking around, and taking notice of the sudden biting cold, he saw that he was surrounded by snow.

He blinked a few times before finally understanding his situation.

“Did I get drugged?”

Taking another look around, all the while shivering slightly, he tried to figure out what was going on.

“I always liked coffee, but maybe I shouldn’t have drank any today.” A sudden gust of wind chilled Shadow even more, even though he had on two sweaters and two pairs of pants. “And I thought Texas was cold.”

Taking a moment to get used to the cold, he took a few steps and found the snow to feel pretty real.

“I wonder if I’m having a seizure or something in the real world.” He looked around before shrugging, “might as well look around. It’d make an interesting story when I wake up.”

He looked up, expecting to see the sun or moon rising in the sky. What he did not expect to see was a floating city so close.

He stared at it for quite some time, until eventually snapping out of it.

“Whatever the hell I’m on,” he shook his head, “someone wasted it on me.”

After getting over seeing the floating city, he started to make his way towards it. Naturally, seeing something that should’ve been impossible made his curiosity get the best of him.

“I wonder if anyone will believe me if I wake up. Floating cities in the middle of a winter wonderland.” It sounded familiar, though he couldn’t tell why. Once again he simply laid the blame on whatever was in his system.

Out of all drug-induced hallucinations, why did it have to be one of the coldest landscapes ever? Trudging along, he eventually made out the shape of buildings below the floating island, showing there was a city below it as well.

“This is something straight out of Astro Boy, I swear.” Shadow’s mutterings were cut off by movement up ahead.

Turning towards where he had seen it, he saw a hunched figure, though it was obscured by the snowfall. Adjusting his glasses as he got closer saw that a person was laying on the ground, though it wasn’t anyone he recognized.

“Are you alright?”

"Yeah," the figure said, getting to his feet. "This must be one hell of a concussion."

Shadow snorted, “You’re telling me.”

"You hit your head too? Or did you just click some questionable link?"

He blinked before holding a hand to his head. “I’m pretty sure someone spiked my coffee. And now I’m talking to a hallucination too. Weird day.”

"I don't think someone spiked your coffee mate. Last time I checked, I don’t usually share my dreams." He stuck out a hand. "Name's Xavier by the way."

Shadow looked at the hand before shaking it with his own. “Shadow. And I’m pretty sure someone did, because cities aren’t supposed to float.” He pointed behind Xavier.

"Yeah, reckoned that was the headache, but if you can see it too I'm not sure it is. You know, this reminds me a lot of something from a show I watch. Funny that."

Shadow shrugged. “Lots of shows and movies have floating cities, and I’ve seen plenty. And I’m pretty sure whatever that is, it’s way better than staying out here in the freezing cold.”

"Well let's head over, anything's better than this bloody cold." Xavier trudged on, but he couldn't shake the feeling that looked alot like Atlas. "Say, have you ever seen the show RWBY?"

“Oh great. Now my hallucinations are speaking about shows. Weird coma. Yeah, I’ve seen it. Never got past Volume 5, though.”

"Oi, you're the hallucination here! But yeah, I'm about 90% sure that thing in the sky is Atlas."

Shadow looked up, looking over what he could see. “Like I said, I wouldn’t know. Never got that far in. Besides, what makes you so sure?”

"Lighting, distinctive style, that large Grimm between us and the city gate," he deadpanned, pointing at the large monster facing them down, growling. Xavier bent down and picked up a large tree branch lying on the ground.

"Tell ya what Mr. Shady, I don’t much feel like a hallucination and I'm not about to test that out. So how about we make our forefathers proud and kill some wild animals?”

Shadow quickly grabbed Xavier’s shoulder, holding him back. “Wait. Just... wait.” He kept his eyes on the creature in front of them, seeing the black fur and white bone plating. “Let’s just say that, hypothetically, this is as real as I am, and the same goes for you and that thing. Do you really think, for even a moment, that two untrained people are gonna take down a monster with a couple of sticks?” He turned slightly as he watched the monster look at them, inching closer.

Xavier chuckled, "well, I don't think I can outrun you, and I don’t feel much like being a snack as much as I may look like one."

He winked and stepped to the side. "I go right, you go left. If you get the chance, find a nice, splintered piece of wood and run it through the beast’s hind leg. Go for the knee."

“Such a great plan.” He deadpanned. Sighing, he started moving towards the left, keeping his legs slightly open if he needed to react. “It’s better than standing here and dying though.”

He didn’t know what would happen if he died in his coma. He didn’t want to find out if Inception was based on true events.

“Here grimm-y, grimm-y grim," Xavier said softly, waving the wood. The creature snarled and stalked towards him. "Let's dance you bastard."

Watching as the Grimm, reminiscent of a werewolf stalked towards Xavier, Shadow took the chance to look for a branch. Or anything, really. Finding one that had a rather sharp end, he raised it.

“Well, if we can’t outrun it, might as well cripple it,” he whispered.

Xavier whistled loudly to keep the creature’s attention on him. It worked perhaps too well as it started to bound towards him faster than expected. The creature leapt at Xavier as he dived to the side, swinging at the monster's jaw. The branch hit the jaw, turning the Grimm's head away as the wood exploded in a shower of splinters.

Shadow took the chance, seeing as the Beowolf was somewhat stunned. He ran up as fast as he could, aiming the end of the branch at one of the creature’s eyes. He felt his attack miss, sliding off the Grimm’s bone plating.

He didn’t have the time to react before the creature slammed its arm into his stomach, throwing him back.

Groaning and in pain, he could definitely say that this wasn’t a dream or coma or hallucination. Trying to get back up, he saw the creature bleeding from its left eye.

“Well, I didn’t completely miss.” He backed up, trying to put some distance between him and the pissed off Grimm, keeping an eye on it and Xavier.

Xavier took his chance and rammed the shattered stick into the back leg of Grimm causing it to roar in pain. The creature whipped round, but was met with a boot in the snout, deflecting its jaw and a bite that would have easily been a death blow. He pulled a knife from his jacket and rammed it through a chink in the creature’s nose plates.

At the same time, Shadow had found a thicker branch, though this one wasn’t as sharp. It didn’t matter though as he used it like a baseball bat on the creature’s skull, hoping to stun it or give it brain damage.

The grimm threw itself forward and knocked Xavier to the ground, bowling him over. Shadow’s club had the desired effect, driving Xavier's knife through the skull and into its brain.

The monster stumbled, then collapsed to the floor before slowly dissolving.

Watching as the Grimm dissolved into dust, he saw the knife that he had unknowingly hammered in.

Wincing, he said, “well, that’s a nasty way to die.” He dropped onto his knees while clutching his stomach. “And I’ll be feeling that tomorrow.”

"Y-yeah, crap. I think I will too." Xavier looked down, only to find a large tear in his hoodie and more concerningly, his gut. "Bitch got me... goddamit I liked this hoodie."

As Xavier's vision dimmed he felt a cold disappointment. So close. So close to actually doing something worthwhile.

At least Shadow was okay, it seemed. That was worth something right? Xavier groaned, feeling a strange warmth suffused him. Was this death? Seemed likely. Just his luck, ending up in the world of RWBY and dying in his first encounter. Not all that surprising he guessed. Odd that dying felt like this. Why was he feeling stronger? And why was the pain in his gut subsiding?

“Hey! Hey! Are you ok?!” Shadow was extremely concerned when he saw the red in Xavier’s sweater, even more when he saw the tall boy growing pale.

He got up, rushing over as he nearly tripped over the snow. “Hey! C’mon! The city gates are right there! We can make it! Just a little fur-“ His words died as he saw an impossibly black glow surround Xavier’s body, almost like a silhouette.

He watched in fascination as the red on his sweater stopped spreading, coming to a halt. His skin gained a healthy hue, and his breathing seemed to somewhat calm.

Well, it was official. He wasn’t drugged and this wasn’t his imagination.

Xavier felt his flesh stitch itself back together. He touched the skin there and felt it slightly damp from the dried blood of his shirt. 

"Jesus Christ. I really thought he got me for a sec." He laughed as Shadow pulled him to his feet. I'm gonna need a bigger knife." He muttered scooping up the blade from the snow. He tucked it back inside his jacket and turned back to Shadow.

"Well. That'll probably traumatize me for a while. You wanna go to town?"

“Traumatize you? How do you think I feel?” He chuckled. Running a hand over his hair, he sighed, “so, RWBY huh? Atlas? No joke?”

"If this is a joke, then someone's got a twisted sense of humor and a lot of trouble when I catch ‘em," He rubbed his stomach, still feeling the phantom pains. "Well guess this the real deal alright." He looked at his hand, pushing his aura towards it. To his delight, it worked somewhat, his hand being encased in a black glow.

Looking at the glow, Shadow sighed. “You- we, got lucky.” As he turned towards the gates, he saw an object on the ground. Picking it up, he saw it was white with a yellow diamond in the center. An idea sprung to him, and, feeling his pockets, he found another identical one.

“I think you dropped this,” he said, handing the one he found to Xavier. “That all but confirms it.” Looking at the pair of cities, he said out loud, “I wonder if we’ll meet any of them.”

"The characters? Somehow I doubt it," he looked over at Shadow. "Good shot with that branch, you did well mate," he clapped him on the shoulder and smiled at the shorter boy.

“Thanks! You weren’t bad yourself!”

"Now let's get the hell out of this ice."

Xavier walked on towards Mantle, hoping to whatever god put them here to find somewhere warm. Suddenly he paused, "Say Shady, you thought you got drugged right?"

Rolling his eyes, he said, “yeah, I thought I did. I was at work and had some coffee earlier. Kinda hard not to think that happened when I’m at work and suddenly I’m in the middle of a snowstorm.”

Xavier swallowed. He was going out on a limb but he had to be sure. "Right, and you’re 100% positive you didn’t get any links on something like Discord?"

Thinking back on it, Shadow’s memory was fuzzy with everything that had happened in the last few hours. “Now that you say that, yeah. One of the guys on a server I manage had a link to a RWBY game. Honestly I just thought I coincidentally blacked out at the same time. You too?”

"Yup. Wee kid from a server of writers sent me a link, but it was sus as hell. So, I tried not to click it but I tripped." Out of curiosity, he reached up and touched his forehead. The gash there had healed, but there was still a mark and a split in his eyebrow.

“Makes you wonder who else is here. Dammit, Avi. Where’d he get a link like that?”

Xavier turned, "You say Avi? Like Avistar?"

At that, Shadow stopped. “You know Avi?”

"Sure looks like it," Xavier said, putting the pieces together in his head. "Let me guess, The Nook? You're an admin?"

Raising an eyebrow, he answered. “Yeah, I go by Shadowy or Qrow. You?” Shadow paused. “Wait. Xavier? Three instead of an ‘E’?”

Xavier’s face broke in a wide grin and spread his arms wide. "In the flesh."

Shadow took a moment to look the taller boy in the eyes before smiling. “Nice to meet ya. I feel dumb as hell for not connecting the dots sooner but between the cold, adrenaline, and monsters I think I can get a pass.”

"Ha! You’re telling me. I'm just glad to see friendly face" he wrapped his arm around Shadow and pulled him into his side. Suddenly a thought occurred to him. "Wait, you think there's other Nooks here?"

“It’s certainly possible. I don’t have my phone on me to delete the link, and I don’t think scrolls have a discord app.”

"Christ that's not good, we better head into Mantle and look for em there. Hope to God they're having a better time than us." He took out his scroll. "Here, add me in case we get separated."

“What makes you say they’re even here? It could be just us and the rest of ‘em could be with Oz for all we know.” He took his own scroll out, almost intuitively using it to add Xavier’s contact. “Sorry, that’s just my pessimism talking.”

"Chin up mate, we hope for the best. Anyway let's find a nice pub. I could do with a drink after all this. We'll make our calls in the morning alright? "

“Yeah, I can get behind that. C’mon, I’m freezing.”

* * *

Zaira woke up relaxed and fresh faced. And by relaxed and fresh faced, Zaira meant, she woke up with a killer migraine, a few too much hair in her mouth and a foot hanging off the bed. "Urgh, I had the strangest dream." She said groggily, rubbing at her eyes with the back of her hand.

Stretching back into a deep yawn, she looked around. 

The room she was in was painted an off-white colour. Definitely not the deep blue that she was familiar with from back home. Similarly, she was in a small single bed. A second single bed was beside hers, filled with a guy still snoring away.

"Okay then. Definitely not a dream."

Rubbing at her eyes one last time to be fully sure and not seeing any change, she threw off her blanket and dashed into the room's bathroom. For the first time since arriving here, she took a look at herself in the mirror.

"Huh?!" Zaira all but shouted as she saw her reflection. "Why the hell do I look so young!"

"We got transported from Earth to Remnant and that's what you focus on?" John commented from his bed.

It turns out he hadn't been asleep, but rather looking at the scroll from underneath the covers. He'd spent the wee hours of the morning researching remnant, pouring through history, scientific articles, and much more.

"Yes!" Zaira gasped, waiving around her hands over her head. "I look like a kid. Look at this. Look!" 

Zaira squeezed and pulled on a cheek. "This is residual baby fat. I haven't had this since I was like seventeen." It came out as more like "Thih ith rethidul bab fath," thanks to her pulling on her face.

"And? I'm pretty sure you look like any other 17 year old girl, at least from my, admittedly limited, experience."

He closed his scroll and sat up. His jacket was wrinkled from where he had slept in his clothes.

Zaira smacked her face in a classic face-palm maneuver. "I was twenty-three last time I checked. I was last night before this whole adventure started and I was damn well sure I was twenty-three when I arrived. Unless... Did I look like this when we met?"

"If I'm being honest, I couldn't say. I'm not particularly observant, I'll admit. However, by all laws of physics, remnesian or terran, I'd say so."

"Damn. I'm a seventeen year old again. I could really use a drink right about now. Am I even old enough in this body to be allowed into bars? Damn, I really miss being twenty-three already..."

"Considering the generally shorter lifespan of people in Remnant? I'd wager 17 is old enough, though I could very well be mistaken."

John sighed and stood up.

Calmed greatly by the news and the promise of a drink in her likely near future, Zaira breathed out a deep breath. "Okay, minor freak-out averted. Onto important things."

Hopping up onto her bed, she pulled out her scroll, flipping through the news. "Ya, John? Do you know anything about Remnant time, because I have no clue when we are. Maybe... nope. I can't find any links to General Ironwood anywhere."

"From what I can tell, we're about a year or so after Atlas's restructuring following the great war. He won't hit the scene for about... 20-30 years yet, even in the military, let alone as an officer."

"Great, now all I can think about it baby Ironwood, but for some reason, still half robot."

"I'm... going to pretend you never said that. That image is the last thing I need." He let out a sigh. "What's the plan?"

Zaira tapped her chin. "Hmm, my first instinct is breakfast. But I really think we need to figure out if we are all the people that clicked on that link or not. There could very well be more of us. And money. That could be a problem too."

Zaira fiddled with her scroll a little bit. "Ooh! Atlas Academy is up and running! Want to try the true isekai experience and become huntsmen?"

"We could, but that would require training, aura, and equipment, all of which we lack. Also, it's probably better to ask for Alsius, rather than Atlas. It was renamed only a year ago, Atlas as a name isn't common yet."

"Alsius, Alsius. Okay, I'll try to remember that. Then first thing's first. Let's unlock our auras. After breakfast."

"And.... How do you plan to do that? Seeing as neither of us have it?" John quirked an eyebrow.

Zaira waved John off. "That's an issue for the future that requires some research. It would have had to be unlocked by someone first without the 'Pyrrha speech'. In my fanfics, I usually have it being originally unlocked with physical pain and meditation. I'm picturing something similar being done here. I can do some research on that during breakfast, and you can maybe look into seeing if there are any people that would be willing to unlock our auras for us. Maybe for some monetary compensation when we actually are a bit more financially stable."

“Good going Zee,” Zaira thought to herself. “Give the work that involves potentially talking to other people to John.”

"I can try, but I highly doubt we'll find any willing. Apparently many people had their aura's unlocked during the war, and now there's a movement in the city to try and control them, so I doubt anyone's going to be willing to out themselves as a non-hunter aura user like that. We may be able to pull some strings though. I'll do some digging."

"Sounds good. I'll be going downstairs to grab some food. Maybe a pancake, because... want anything?"

"I'll eat later, I gotta start diving."

"See you then," with a small wave, Zaira was off towards the front desk

John lay back down on the bed, arms behind his head and looked up at the roof. They really were in remnant weren't they?

_‘With 0ne, no, Zaira, with me no less. Certainly not who he expected to have by his side. At least she seemed nice enough.’_

_‘Well, if we're to succeed in this world, I suppose I better start looking for aura diners.’_

John pulled out his scroll, and opened the VPN and secure browser he'd installed overnight. He hopped on a website known as quadchan, and started poking around, hopefully, before too long he'd find an individual willing to unlock their auras.

* * *

"Hey Miss, isn't this a scroll?" Jack said before looking up **BEEP**

Wait was he just censored? No that's not important. "Look Miss, the moon is broken," Jack said, pointing up.

Miss looked up to see what Jack was referring to. When she saw that the moon was fragmented in a familiar way, all of it just clicked in her brain. She knew where they were. Or had a general idea or guess at least.

"Err... That seems familiar... Don't you think that. We are somehow in Remnant?" She continued to gawk at the fractured moon. Blinking multiple times to see if the moon would go back to normal everytime she closed her eyes, but nothing changed. 

"Like, RWBY Remnant? Also how did you have a scroll suddenly?" She checked her pockets to see if she had a scroll as well. Sure enough, she had one also. 

"Oh no, oh no, _oh no_. We really are in Remnant."

Other people would say that she was lucky that she was transported to another world. But being here in the cold plus nowhere to go or what to do next. This was the opposite of fun.

"This is awesome," Jack muttered excitedly as he shivered. "I think We might be in Atlas.”

"What do you mean, ‘this is awesome’?!" She replied. She couldn't tell if Jack was just joking or freezing to death and hallucinating. Maybe both.

"And how do you know that this Atlas? Do you see any floating city around..." As they entered a clearing. They finally reached civilization. She could see the city of Mantle a mile away. And sure enough, Atlas was there also with all of its splendor. "Yup, definitely Atlas. At least we know where to go now," she sped up her walking, eager to go to the city and finally rest.

Jack kept pace, hoping to get into some dry clothes. "Wonder what our Semblances are. I remember Riggy joking about how her semblance would be speed writing."

"What are the odds of us having semblances? Oh yeah, we're probably isekai heroes in this. Whatever it is, let's hope it's teleportation because my god this walking business is so long." She complained.

After much more walking and much longer than they both cared to admit, they finally reached Mantle. Of course they didn't walk all the way there by foot but instead caught a ride with some truck on the way to Mantle. It had been a moment of sheer luck, but a desperate one at that.

"So do you have any food?" Jack asked, patting his stomach as he got out of the truck.

Just like in the show, Miss checked her scroll to see if they had lien in them. Sure enough, they did, but she wasn't sure if it would last for long.

"Hold that for a little longer. We need rest. Maybe we can grab something to eat tomorrow."

"Yeah same. Plus it will be nice to get out of these wet clothes," Jack said, nodding. He was a bit let down that when he goes to sleep, he’dl probably wake up from this. He was curious how things would go from there.

They walked for a few moments until they reached a motel. The both of them entered the place looking the most dead duo you could ever see.

“Room...for....two...please," she said to the desk. She was exhausted to the point where she didn't care if they had to share a room together. She would collapse instantly if she found a bed. They were both cold and tired.

"What she said," Jack nodded, shivering.

After receiving the keys to their room, they headed upstairs without another word. Once they entered, she immediately went to the bathroom to change into warmer clothes. 

Good thing that they provided something to wear to sleep. She changed her clothes into a white sleeping robe. Finally not being in wet clothes, she already felt relief. She exited the bathroom and jumped at the nearest bed. Falling to sleep.

Jack undressed and stumbled into a hot shower, letting out a relieved hiss even as the water felt like it was burning against his achingly cold skin. After the shower, he slumped under the blankets, too tired to think about getting dressed.

* * *

Breakfast was good. 

Waking up to an unfamiliar ceiling was annoying but goddamn, Jacob would be lying if he said the food this old lady cooked was anything less than stellar. A meal of simple eggs and pancakes sending his taste buds into the stratosphere. Was everyone on Remnant this good of a cook?

"Enjoying yourselves?" The sour old lady's voice interrupted the enjoyment, as Jakey and Michael nodded with mouths full. "Before you two check out would you like to visit the gift shop? You two do seem a bit underprepared for the Mantle cold." 

With a heavy swallow Jakey nodded and finished up his meal. The large intake of calories made him feel a bit light headed as he and Michael walked in front of the old lady going towards what seemed like a large shed in her backyard. Memories of the show would say these were uncommon in Mantle. Still though, Jakey watched his step as he came towards the shed and looked back at the lady. 

"Could you open it for me son?" The old lady said, as Jakey just nodded and took hold of the door. Pulling it open, though It was really easy...

And then he saw it. Inside the shed, lights automatically flicked on, showing a large amount of metal tools inside. Knives, pliers, hammers, and drills along with two chairs covered in dried blood. 

Jakey turned around in an instant and the loud sound of metal clashing with his skull filled the air as he dropped to the ground, face lying in the cold snow after he just got smashed in the head with a shovel.

“W-what...” Michael stared in horror at both the room and the collapsed form of his companion. He hardly knew Jakey, but concern for him was all that was in his mind.

Well, that, and fear. A soul wrenching fear that had him quaking. He looked at Jakey, then back up to the old lady, who approached him with her shovel. Michael raised his fists in a boxing stance. Not like he ever boxed before in the first place. “S-Stay back! I’ll fight you!”

“Oh dearie,” the lady said, shaking her head as she approached him. “You’re much too scared to even fight. So let’s just settle this quickly. Did you know that fingers are quite popular on the market?” 

Michael’s eyes widened as the lady chuckled, before he let out a yell, charging towards her. Only for him to fail horribly as she simply sidestepped his failed attempt, and knocked him on his back, sending him crashing to the floor of the shed.

The first thing he noticed was that his hands and shirt were mucky with dried blood. The second, was that the old lady was approaching him slowly, her shovel at the ready. “See? What did I tell you? You’re weak. Just like the rest of them.”

Weak...he hated that word. He looked around, spotting Jakey’s form. That was it. They’re going to die, killed by some crazy old lady with a penchant for fingers. He starts to breathe quickly, tears brimming in the corner of his eyes. This wasn’t how this adventure was supposed to go!

He looked around, noticing a knife nearby. Grabbing it, he aimed it at the woman. “Don’t get any closer or I swear! I’ll...I’ll kill you!”

The lady smirked and chuckled darkly, “you can try...” She stepped closer. 

Michael breathed. He screwed up his eyes, preparing for the worst. And then-

_For it is in passing that we achieve immortality_

-he swung his knife.

He was too far away for it to realistically have any effect. And he knew it. But something within him screamed to just swing. And he did, with gusto.

The lady stopped. Her shovel clattered to the ground. She gasped, her hands reaching to her throat, wobbling unsteadily on her feet, “Oh...oh my...”

Michael screamed, and swung again. And again. And again. Until all he saw was red and that there was nothing left.

The white of the snow was sprayed red as the lady took a few steps. Acting as almost a hose she yelled out and fell to the ground. The snow around her matched the red coloring of her body as she fell. 

"You... kids," She mumbled out with a wet sound in her throat before her eyes glazed over and she stopped moving. She was right below Michael laying face down in the snow.

Michael breathed heavily. The knife, bloodless and pristine falls uselessly on the floor. He took a few deep, even breaths...and then, he screamed.

Oh god, oh god. He killed someone. A serial killer yes, but it, no no, she, was still a person. A living (not anymore), breathing (definitely not), person. 

Tears slid down his cheeks as he struggled to get on his feet. Right, right. He needed to act. His legs wobbled. He stepped over to Jakey, ignoring the growing pool of red that crept towards them.

“Hey, hey man...wake up,” he said slowly, shaking Jakey, checking his head to see if there was any visible damage.

Jakey shook to life in an instant. Eyes opened wide as his heart beat quickly. He looked around. "The lady," he muttered before sitting himself up and looking at her. 

As he turned his head it didn't seem like there was any major trauma. Just seemed a little jolted as Jakey caught sight of the lady laying in the ground with blood all around her. Not moving.

"Oh," he said to himself as he laid back into the cold snowy ground he was already in. "Let’s... Lets deal with that in a bit." 

"Y-Yeah sure man." Michael said as he shuffled into the shed. Taking in the detail of the tools and even a few weapons. It looked like the lady was killing huntsmen as well. The chairs were facing back to back meaning she likely harmed groups of two. God this was so messed up.

Jakey got himself off the ground. Clothing wet and cold again from the snow as he entered the shed with Para. His eyes glazing over the dead old lady. It felt so surreal to look at. He'd seen a dead body before but being partially responsible. 

He put a hand on Michael's back and gave him a short pat.

"Thanks for saving me," his voice sounded earnest as he spoke. Michael shook a little as he continued to look away. "Just... Just go to your room and I'll deal with all of this. You've done more than enough," 

Michael took a few short breaths like he was about to speak but stopped himself and just nodded. Heading into the house as Jakey took a look at the scene.

"Fuck..."

Hours went by as Jakey got to work. He didn't exactly know how to hide a dead body but he knew how snow worked. A snow shovel from the garage was all he needed to roll the body into the corner of the backyard and cover in fresh snow. Jakey wasn't exactly ripped but he had enough energy to roll a dead body in the snow for about 30 minutes. If you ignored the minor red tint you could barely notice anything happened here.

With caution Jakey stepped back into the shed and began grabbing a few things before heading inside to just relax and wait for Michael to come out.

A telescopic baton and a couple of knives sat in front of Jakey laid out on a table. These were the items left inside the shed from the... previous victims. As grim as it sounded these weapons would be really helpful if the rest of Remnant was as dangerous as that lady. Jakey grabbed the baton and flicked it out. Extending it all the way. It was about an extra arms length. Though it wasn't so big he had to use both hands. The metal body would guarantee a clean hit on whoever was on the receiving end.

Michael sat on the bed of his room, his eyes on the knife in his hand. His eyes are unfocused, idly watching as the light dances off its clean blade. So this is it huh. His first kill. He always imagined what it would be like to kill someone although the thought of actually doing it never crossed his mind. Letting out a shuddering breath, he raises the knife, recalling the moment in which he kills her.

And then, he swings it down on his hand, only for the blade to stop when it reaches his palm, almost as if striking wood. When he pulls the knife back, there is the barest hint of a green glow. 

Eventually Michael came out of his room and came downstairs. Still a bit shaken looking though. 

"Hey, I'm gonna go out and find out some more info. You wanna handle the inn?"

"I'll just come with you, I found keys to the house upstairs." He said as he tossed a heavy keychain towards Jakey. He caught and pocketed it as he nodded.

"Alright then we both go out."

Michael sighed, nodding. That seemed...reasonable. Plus, he doubted he was in the right mental state to travel on his own anyways. He looked at the table full of weapons, fidgeting nervously.

“Jakey...listen,” he said. He squirmed and pulled out a knife from his coat. It was the same one he used to...to kill the lady, “I-I think during that mess, I somehow unlocked my aura...and my semblance.”

He raised the knife and looked at a wall. In a single instant, several deep cuts criss-crossed it. Michael flinched. “My semblance. I’ve been testing it in my room. It… it only works with knives so far. I don’t know what it is. But...I’m scared of it...” He shivers, “such a violent semblance for a violent world...”

He sighed deeply. “This was not how I imagined my stay in Remnant to be.”

* * *

Miss suddenly woke up feeling sore throughout her body. She winced when she stretched her arms and legs. It was a good sleep but now she felt hungry. They were so exhausted from yesterday that they hadn’t bothered to eat anything. She changed back to her uniform. It was still wet even though she hung it by the window. Jack's clothes on the other hand, were all scattered across the room. 

"Well, I can't believe I'm in Remnant, plus I get to share a room with a guy." Everything was a first, she guessed.

"Hey Jack want something to eat?”

Jack didn't respond, rolling over in his sleep.

She took that as a yes and went out to the front desk to ask for food. Or at least where to buy some. “By Jack!” Sha called as she shut the door behind herself.

Jack continued to roll until he was falling off the bed. He woke up with a start, before lying there in shock as his body felt sore. With a groan, he fell back asleep where he lay.

Zaira skipped her way down the stairs of the motel, feeling a lot better now that she had a full night of sleep in a bed. Paying more attention to the paintings on the wall, she didn't notice someone was waiting behind her. It was another girl, probably younger than her by a few years. No, her age, considering she looked seventeen.

"Sorry, were you waiting for someone at the front desk?"

Miss turned around, seeing if the girl was talking to someone else. Realizing that it was just the two of them, she said, "oh, I was actually. Me and my friend just got here and hadn't eaten anything since yesterday. You can go first."

She didn't want to say that they were from another world and how they had almost died from the cold.

"Oh, um, sure. Thanks," Zaira let out shyly. "I was just going to ask about where to find breakfast."

"How about we eat breakfast together? Since I don't know where to eat also" Miss couldn't believe that she just asked to share her breakfast with a complete stranger. But she seemed nice and innocent. Besides, Jack was out cold so maybe she would just bring some back for him. "Are you with someone or are you alone?"

"Erm... with someone?" How was Zaira to explain that she was with a person she had only ever met before online and was from a completely different planet or universe to this one? Wait, what did she just say? Zaira blushed. "Not with someone, with someone. Just together. But not together, together. Oh god, I sound like Nora..."

Zaira rubbed a hand over head face. "Yes I'm with someone. A friend, who is back in our room."

It was very cute seeing this girl flustered. It almost reminded her of someone, but she couldn't tell who exactly... 

"I do have someone with me as well. But he's dead as a rock. Hehehe..." She awkwardly laughed at herself.

"Ha," Zaira fumbled out a small laugh. "Then, let's go?"

Getting some quick information from the concierge, the two girls were off to the other end of the motel where they were serving a small breakfast.

"Oh, I'm Zaira by the way. Zaira Rouge. I... like your... dress?" Zaira cursed herself. First it was a comment about John’s hat and now it was this person’s dress. What was with her and commenting on clothes all of a sudden?

“oh god why did I still have my cosplay uniform on.” Miss chastised herself.

Even in Remnant her fake school uniform still stood out from the rest. "Why thank you Zaira! Uhh. This is unique and please don't ask where I got this."

"Sure," Zaira smiled in reply. At least her new companion had a sense of style. She guessed it fit in with the huntsmen insanity style that the RWBY show gave its cast of characters.

"Are you a huntress by chance?" Zaira pointed at her get-up. "You sort of have that whole... huntress fashion vibe going for you."

"Oh, of course not. No!" Waving her hands to show that she was anything but. 

"Oh, and I almost forgot to say my name. I'm Melissa by the way, or call me Miss for short." She extended her hand for a handshake

"Zaira," Zaira said, accepting the hand in front of her. "Or Zee. But I already said that. You do have that sort of style. Sorry for assuming."

"I'll take that as a compliment." She smiled. At least someone was impressed by her style.

The breakfast buffet laid out for them was nice, albeit on the smaller side. Some eggs, already made pancakes and a toaster. A bowl of mixed berries constituted the only real fruit spread in the place. And drinks were a choice between water, milk or orange juice.

The two girls filled their plates with their choice food options, Zaira choosing to grab mostly fruits and a pancake or two. As they took a seat at one of the many empty tables, they dug in.

"So, what are you doing here in Mantle?" Zaira started, not enjoying the awkward silence that had fallen between them.

Miss grabbed the toast and butter on her plate. She also added some eggs in there. She was so busy grabbing food that she didn't answer immediately.

"I uhh. Just got here actually with my friend. To be completely honest, I don't know what I'm doing here myself."

"Preaching to the choir, there, sister." Zaira responded between bites. "It's been a strange last couple hours for me. But, my friend and I are probably going to start seeing if any of our other friends happen to be around her."

Zaira was a little unsure about what to say. It was difficult knowing how much information to give to stay truthful and honest, but without having this person think she was completely insane.

What Zee had said got Miss thinking. What if Jack and her weren't the only ones who got sent to Remnant. There were a few members present during that time.

"Yeah, it was a rough day for me and my friend as well." Holding up her glass and swirling the contents inside.

"I sometimes wonder if my other friends went here as well. I wouldn't be surprised if Avi tricked more people coming here" miss didn't notice that she bought up the reason she was sent here. Oh well, it wasn't like Zee knew what she was talking about.

Zaira nodded, eyes not leaving her plate. "Ya. I get that..."

She sprung up. "Avi? Oh hell. John and I were literally talking about that last night in our room! Avi. Avistar? RWBY Nook and all that? Okay, this is sort of strange there are dozens, if not hundreds of motels in Mantle, and we happen to find the exact one with someone else that knows Avi. Someone wants to push the plot forward..." She mumbled the last bit to herself.

"Yeah, what are the coincidences of two members coming here at the same time? Like that will ever happen...." Miss slowly lowered her glass of water as the realization was finally coming to her. She blinked multiple times to see if she was hallucinating the conversation. When it failed the second time, she took a deep breath and went straight to ask a world shattering question.

"Uhh, Zee. Did you by chance mention the nook earlier? And will you believe that by some chance the person in front is also a nook. Err, came from the real world and not here" she closed her eyes and waited for Zee to freak out and call the local mental hospital.

Zaira looked at Miss. Miss looked at Zaira. The background noise of the buffet seemed to fall into the background as the two girls looked at each other, green eyes staring into green.

Zaira was the first to break, descending into giggles, quickly followed by Melissa. "Holy hell," Zaira gasped out between spouts of laughter. "I totally did not expect that. I guess I should reintroduce myself."

She held out a hand, this time with a real smile on her lips. "Hi, I'm One Who Wanders. It's a pleasure to meet you in person."

Miss breath out a sigh of relief when she heard a familiar name. 

She was so glad by the encounter that she stood up from her chair, went to 0ne/Zee, and hugged her really hard. Miss was a hugger after all.

"I can't believe there's more of us here," Zaira said, a tear trickling from her eye as she returned the hug with equal pressure.

After a moment the two released and she wiped her eyes. "This is beyond incredible. Oh! And I'm with John, er. SrloJohn. He's back up in our room." She pointed behind herself in a direction that was very much not towards her room.

It was then that they heard the start of some sort of commotion. The sounds of glass shattering, followed by something landing hard on the snow covered pavement just outside.

* * *

Omake

Putting his hands on the bed to drag his sore body up, Jack looked around, faintly remembering what had happened before. “Guess this dream will be a long one,” he said to himself, scratching his back as he stood up. He went to the bathroom to get ready for the day, only then remembering that he hadn’t been alone in the room before. Crap, had he been walking around naked this whole time while another person was there? Quickly looking around, he tripped over his still wet boots and hit his head on the sink. He cursed, trying to stop the bleeding on his forehead with a towel.

“Oww that hurt, why did it hurt, this is supposed to be a dream, it has to be a dream!” Jack began hyperventilating. “I would never survive in Remnant. I need to wake up.” Looking around for ways to wake himself up, and ignoring the pain in his head and the sensible part of himself telling himself not to, he tried to open the window with slick bloody hands. Feeling like it was taking to long Jack slammed into the window breaking through and off the ledge.

Falling was a mix of terrifying and exhilarating. He felt more alive then he had in his life, it was just like abseiling. 

Hitting the ground, he expected to wake up. Instead, he heard a shattering sound as he smashed through a pane of glass, before he hit the ground a second time only to stay there this time. 

Lying there bruised and broken, covered in stinging cuts, he came to a realization that terrified him. This was no dream.

Jack lied there, refusing to let himself die. He wasn't ready to die. There was still so much to do. Ignoring the urge to just lie there and sleep, not recognizing the sounds he could hear, the deafening sounds that made him want to curl into a ball, he slowly pulled himself up.

He focused on the pain he felt, the feel of the sharp blades of glass stabbing into himself, the things that made himself so sure he was alive, so sure he was awake. It was weird. The closer he got to standing up, the easier it felt. Seeing the glass go from a stained red, to lighting up a bright white, he slowly felt the pain dim. He felt stronger than he ever had before. Lighter on his feet.The feeling quickly faded as he felt tired and exhausted. His body felt like lead, making himself fall back down, hitting the glass-covered ground painfully and ripping up his tattered bathrobe even more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, this is a collaborative fic from members of the Nook discord server. It's been made by me MissAnthropy, SrloJohn, Sr Paracelus, ShadyJakey, 0neWhoWondsrs, Shadow and Xavier.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teams start to form as we try to think of a plan

A deep breath escaped Jakey's mouth. He always hated border patrol. A few too many questions from the officer there and being forced to wait because his last name was ‘foreign’. Security to fly up to Atlas wasn't exactly border patrol but it felt like it. The long lines and the various stares from security. The general feeling of soiled excitement that was worn down by wait times.

The feeling, however, was complemented by the sight of a blue-haired fanus girl in full combat gear, a Machete and a heavy calibre revolver sticking out in the open.

Jakey looked over to Michael whose eyes were also fixated on the fanus girls weapons as she spoke to the officer about how she didn't have time to pack her equipment into her suitcase. He seemed responsive and like it was entirely normal before ushering her away.

"Well I'm glad to see our suitcase full of weapons won't be looked at funny," Jakey whispered to his travelling partner,

Michaels face puckered into an indifferent expression as he leaned forward and whispered back. "Depends on if you cleaned the blood off the weapons properly,"

Jakey tried hard to force a smile as he put on a face for the officer waiting for them. The thought of getting caught wasn’t something he could have on his mind as he talked to what amounts to the Remnant version of TSA.

The officer smiled as he began to repeat the same opening lines. Voice deep but expression light.

He reminded Jakey of someone...

"Citizenship Please," He said with a chipper tune as Jacob and Michael showed off their conveniently acquired citizenship files on their scroll. The man bringing up something to tap to the scrolls to verify as he looked the boys over. His eyes also went to the screen that likely had an x-ray of their suitcases and the weapons inside.

"Reasons for entering Atlas?"

"We're going up to the huntsman academy," Para said, trying to match the man’s tone.

Jakey made no effort as he spoke. "Yeah... well, we have to try out first. We're going to stay at a friend’s house up here. Well, I should say she’s more like my godmother with how long we’ve known her,"

The man chuckled as he stroked his growing stubble. "Well good luck to you two. According to your records, you did well in almost every class. Atlas is happy to have you." He said as he looked at the other screen. The large sum of various weapons making more sense with the context.

"Thanks" Jakey muttered out before turning to leave. Not wanting to spend another moment in this familiar hell. Still, he had a nagging feeling in his mind.

Michael lets out a sigh of relief, glad that they were able to make it through rather easily. He leans forward to read the nametag on the officer's uniform and nods politely,

"Thanks, Chief Ironwood," he does his best to keep his cool at the mention of what could possibly be the father of future leader of Atlas and hurries along, following Jakey.

"I wonder if we can live up to what he says," He muses aloud, "Like, actually living up to our 'records'. Like. I don't know about you but I don't have much combat experience. All I have to say for myself is my semblance."

He kicks the dirt as they walk past the Faunus girl. Michael does his best not to stare at her cat ears. It'd probably come off as racist. Speaking of that... "Hey Jakey, ever wondered about what you're going to do here?"

"Para we already went over the plan like 3 times before this scene." He stared in mild distress.

Fine, one more time for the people in the back.

"We go up to Atlas. You are here now," He sighed, pointing around at all insanity of the city around them. "Then we find a place to use a computer and find out if there's anyone else from the nook here. Those records iron-dad talked about are foreshadowing.

Then we go to..." Jakey pulled out the old lady’s scroll from his pocket. "We go to Ms. Canvas's house and use that as our shelter to grab the other Nookrumbs before we go to the huntsman academy. Knowing everyone from the nook I have a feeling it won't be long before they try and become huntsmen. There is a protagonist problem in that server"  
“Understood?”

* * *

Miss and Zaira rushed outside to see what the commotion was all about. There were some bystanders looking, but none were coming close enough to do anything or give the two girls an idea of what had actually happened. As they reached the cause of the noise, Miss huffed and slapped a hand on her forehead.

Laying there in the snow, surrounded by glass and a near-fully open bathrobe was Jack. He was writhing in pain, groaning. It was ultimately not a pretty sight to behold. Glass covered his body. What had not clung to his skin, etched him with tiny cuts as he thrashed around

"Are you okay?" Zaira said, darting to his side, looking at the glass shards all over the place and the broken glass awning above.

Surrounding Jack was a faint white glow, pulsating with energy. Slowly but surely stitching faint cuts in his skin back together.

"Aura," Miss whispered in awe.

Hearing the familiar voice Jack turned his head to see his current only friend there and a stranger. She was shorter than Miss, and if he remembered right had tried to get his attention.

"Hey," Jack stuttered before feeling a chill everywhere.

Looking down, Jack found that his once pristine bathrobe was covered in blood and tattered, showing more skin than it covered.

"Sorry I thought that the fall would wake me up," he said, trying and failing to cover his modesty as he crossed his legs.

Zaira turned to look back at Miss. "He's one of us?"

With Miss's nod of affirmation, she spun back to the boy. "Hi. I'm 0ne? You remember me from the Nook? Ya, I'm here to help."

Holding back her gag reflex at the sight of blood, as best as she could, she reached for him, looking at the areas that had once been covered in the most blood. He lifted an arm, looking it over every which-way.

"No, no, honey. This is all very much real."

"Ya... I have no idea what I'm doing here. There's like not even a scratch on you. And any that are, are closing up."

With 0ne’s closeness, he only blushed more. While he knew it would be good to get checked out, he wasn't the most dressed. "One? You mean the crazy prompt maker? I'm Jack White." Normally he would have gone to shake her hand, but not only was he covered in blood they were being used. One hand was being held by 0ne and the other was holding the bath robe. "Y-you mind giving me some space I'm not dressed for interacting with people," Jack stuttered.

"Eep!" Zaira jumped up, fully grasping what was going on. She'd been in lifeguard mode. "Yup, eh-yup. Sure, sure. Miss? He's your partner here. You, go... you do you. I'll be back here."

Zaira blushed furiously and twiddled with her fingers, walking with her back towards Jack.

"Nice meeting you," she said with a wave, still not turning to face him.

Jack just waved back awkwardly. "Nice meeting you too..." he mumbled. He turned to Miss, letting out a quiet, “hey,” avoiding eye contact with her.

* * *

Back in the Motel…

John finished his research and stood up with a stretch, deciding to join Zaira for lunch, he put on his trench coat, buttoning it closed, and strode downstairs.

He grabbed a piece of some unknown Remnesian fruit from the fruit bowl, and bit into it, looking around for his companion.  
After finishing his fruit, he grabbed a toothpick.

Perhaps she was outside.....

* * *

John meandered out to the street, where he spotted the trio. He walked over to them, and took the toothpick out of his mouth to talk, grabbing it between his fingers.

"What happened here Zaira?"

Zaira gestured wildly behind her.

"And that is? A man half naked on the street?"

Zaira shut her eyes tightly and bit her lip. All she could do was nod.

Trying to get to his feet while saving his remnants of modesty, Jack accidently stepped on glass, cursing.

John looked at where the other man had spoken.

"Stay there, I'm going to get a broom to sweep up the glass." He looked back to Zaira, "tell me while we walk."

"Sounds like a plan. Miss, enjoy your friend." Zaira said, following John. "Oh, John. That's Miss. Like Missanthropy from the Nook. and the other one's Jack White."

While the two of them left to find a broom, Miss looked down on her partner, still tugging away at his bathrobe. "I...would you like to, I don't know, step away from the glass covered ground?"

"I see.... and why is.... Jack naked?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, honestly." Zaira shrugged. "I was a little more concerned about the glass. Heh, I think we solved our aura problem."

"Oh? how's that." John turned to look at her curiously.

Zaira pointed behind her. "Jack's got aura. Not a freaking scratch on him. Well, numerous scratches, but they're all being healed up. Closing on their own. I'd say it was gross if it wasn't sorta cool at the same time."

"Well, looks like that's our way into the academies. We just need to get the man some clothes. I assume the girl was Miss?"  
"Yup," Zaira replied, popping her 'P'. "She's a sweetheart. We sorta bumped into each other while looking for breakfast. They're staying a few doors down from us. Small world, right?"

"More like a trolling Avi."

Zaira giggled, "that would be totally something he'd do, eh?"

"More than likely. This whole situation is one cosmic joke. With our luck, we'll find out Avi's off’ed Salem and taken over."

"Now that would be a terrible plot twist."

* * *

Jack fought his desire to shiver from the cold. It wasn't as bad as yesterday because of the fact that he was dryer and had aura. But still, he was standing outside in the snow, practically nude. Instead of talking, he twiddled his thumbs nervously, unable to think of what to say. That had been one of his close online friends, but he had never met her in real life. He never expected to, really. They joked about meeting up when 0ne became famous, but this was so different.

Hearing the commotion and sounds of glass smashing, the motel clerk at the door raced outside with a medkit and the emergency services on standby.

What he found was a teenager standing covered in blood and scratches with a tattered robe of their own.

The most blood seemed to be on his head, but luckily for them, he seemed to have his aura unlocked letting him survive the fall.

If he didn't, then they would have faced harsh backlash. Both public and legal. Ignoring the people around him he bowed, "we're so sorry this has happened to you. Is there any way we can make this up to you?" The clerk questioned, terrified of the fallout this would cause.

Feeling awkward at how much commotion his stupidity caused, Jack lifted his arms to scratch the back of his head. Hearing the shocked noises, Jack looked down, noticing that the bathrobe had separated, much to his embarrassment as he quickly covered himself back up. "Sorry about that, I can be scatterbrained," he said, mortified about his accidental flashing. "And don't worry about me.” He cursed the attention he had on him. "I've unlocked my aura. It seems after a shower and some food I'll be right as rain," Jack felt his stomach clench in hunger. More importantly, he felt disgusting covered in blood and glass. He never wanted to come here again.

"Umm, hi." Miss wiggled her fingers sheepishly. "I think we'd like to not be outside anymore."

Jack nodded, agreeing with her before wincing. "Mostly I would like a shower and some clothes," Jack said blushing, as he fought the urge to scratch the back of his head again.

Noticing how awkward and easy it was to read the two guests, the clerk believed like the injured party wouldn't sue. "Well, since your room is no longer safe," he said motioning to the broken window that had landed near Jack. The guy was lucky to be alive. "We'll give you access to our more costly accommodation with better rooms and all you can eat at the buffet to enjoy your now weekly stay after what has happened, now are you two alone? Will you be needing the couple room?" The clerk questioned, making them both freeze.

Jack was quick to refuse. "We're just friends and honestly we can't afford these improvements for ourselves let alone for our two other friends," Jack replied faintly, remembering 0ne and the tall guy with her.

"Thank you. And maybe some pants for...?"

The clerk nodded. "I'll see what we can do, but for now let's get you four rooms so that he can shower we'll send over some clothes and food over to him. Now, do you need any help getting to the elevator? We can inform your friends of the change if you describe them to us. And don't worry, your stay is on us."

"Zaira and John. John's tall and bald, and Zaira's a bit shorter than I am?" Miss used a hand to roughly gauge their heights. "I think they're going to go find a broom."

She nodded over to where Jack was standing. "Don't think he's going anywhere surrounded by glass like that."

Jack nodded, agreeing with Miss. “While I would like to get out the snow and be less on show," he said uncomfortably, "I still would rather not step on any more glass. But still, thank you for being so kind to us." Jack paused. "If I knew it would be this easy to get such good treatment I would have almost died ages ago," he mumbled.  
“I’ll… see what I can do.” With that, the clerk scurried off.

Shadow and Xavier were sitting down at a table having breakfast in the modest inn they had found for sleep the night before. Xavier was scrolling through his scroll, using his maps app to pick out shops they would want to go to.

"Based on the link Avi posted, I'd say there's a good chance we're not the only poor sods who ended up on Remanent. We can worry about finding them later however cause first we need to tool up. I don't fancy freezing my balls off in the snow and based on our last fight I don't think my knife is gonna cut it against the Grimm." He grinned at the face Shadow pulled. "Yes that pun was intentional and yes you better get used to it. I need some warmer gear and I want some kind of gun so I don't have to get quite so personal with the next assholes we fight."

“I didn’t know I ended up with a male version of Yang.” Shadow rubbed his temples. “Anyway, while I kinda agree on the clothes, I don’t think we’ll find much luck getting weapons. Personally, I don’t think we’ll be able to walk into any shop and buy anything larger than a survival knife without some kind of license.”

“As for our, uh, friends. I kinda said it yesterday, but what makes you say we’ll even find them.” Taking a brief look out the nearest window, he sighed. “For all we know, they could’ve spawned in front of Sa-“ he cut himself off, glancing around before whispering, “in front of her. You know?”

Xavier sighed and scratched his beard. "That's another thing. Right now we're a pair of teenagers who are completely undocumented with information way, way above our paygrade. What the hell is this version of Oz gonna think when he finds out two random yobs know a hell of a lot more than they should?" He whispered.

Xavier sat back in his chair and crossed his arms "Listen there's four kingdoms so we can say at a rough guess that maybe 25% of people who clicked that link ended up here. Maybe 100% if we're lucky. Mantle's too big to look for em ourselves, so I reckon our best bet is to go to the academy. It's big and it's obvious and who wouldn't go there? Plus we need to think long term. We need jobs, and we don't exactly have a lot going for us. I say we go out shopping, look for anyone who seems out of place like us and then check out the academies."

"For now, we need to keep our heads down and our mouths shut. The last thing I want is Oz thinking we're spies for the Big Bad and locking us up. So I say we get whatever gear we can get our hands on and go to the academies."

Shadow listened, nodding his head to it before he cast a questioning glance. “What do you mean by ‘this version of Oz’?”

Xavier paused, considering how to drop the bombshell.

"Shadow, how far into RWBY have you watched?"

“Volume 5. Why?”

"Ah. Well. I've got some important information regarding Ozpin, or as I should actually say, Ozma."

* * *

"For some reason I'd believe Avi would name himself the new god of Remnant." John replied, just before he found the broom closet. He opened it, grabbed the broom and dustbin, and turned back around. "You can stay here if you like."

"I can help with the sweeping up. Help clear a path to Jack and all that." Zaira said, flexing an arm in a way that sounded a lot more impressive in her than it was in reality. "Besides, I still want to get a rundown on everything you researched and now that there's four of us, it's probably best to start linking up."

Zaira paused. "Resources. Linking up resources."

"Alright." he agreed, as he handed Zaira a broom and headed back. "I've found some weapons dealers of... acceptable legality, so we can get ourselves suited up, and apparently the academy has an open application day, where you can show up, show them you know what you're doing, and they'll consider you. Next one's in a week."

Zaira's eyes lit up. "Ooh! That would be so cool! What do you say? We should probably train up some. And maybe also look into potential outfits. I know that I don't want to be that Huntress that goes around in sweats. Or do I?"

Pausing for a moment, she tapped on her chin. "Nah, I want to have at least some stylish clothes." She bounded after John who had continued walking, broom in hand.

"But that's good. We've got a half-decent time frame to get our auras unlocked and do some establishing training. Maybe get us some half-decent gear until we get to the academy. Hey, do you think we'd get free materials to build weapons? Because I have some thoughts. And I really need to work on my flexibility and gymnastics if I want to be a good huntress... And maybe practice my martial arts... Please tell me you know how to fight a little. I think it'll be super important for us to have at least some hand-to-hand experience."

"Unless you count sparring matches with my sister as a kid, not a lick."

Zaira clapped her hands, grinning in a way that John didn't seem to like. "I'm so totally read to bust out I'll make a man out of you."

"Was that a Mulan reference.....?"

"Yes, now come on! Our new buddies are outside waiting for us!" Zaira grabbed his hand and pulled him along.

At the first phrase, John smiled and said, "I knew there was something I liked about you", then stumbled after, as she yanked him along.

With a shout and a wave, Zaira grabbed the attention of Miss and Jack, who just finished talking with the motel staff.

Jack smiled, moving his hand to wave, only to pale at the gasps he received. "Shit," he muttered embarrassingly before quickly putting his hand down to cover himself. "Sorry about that, I keep forgetting that I'm... you know." He stopped, not wanting to say the word. By that point, his embarrassment was getting stronger than his pain.

"What is it between you and your... Never mind let's just go." Miss said, exasperated.

John pulled free of Zaira and began sweeping up the glass, clearing a path for Jack.

Because she was a nice person and friend. Miss tried her best to help support Jack. Even though he had Aura unlocked. She wasn't taking any chances.

Besides, if Jack so happened to reveal himself again. She had all rights to drop him right there.

"Hey Fly Guy, give you any trouble while we were gone?" Zaira said to Miss, pointing a finger at Jack.

"Fly guy," Jack said, finding it weird as he slowly took steps forward. Careful not to step on any glass, with the help of Miss and John.

"She's not wrong you know," Miss said.

"I didn't fly," Jack said, waving her off. But wouldn't that have been cool, he thought.

"I can't believe we chose such a crappy motel that you fell through their walls," Zaira said, crossing her arms in a huff.

Jack paused, feeling guilty. This was his fault and now the motel was paying the price. "Technically it was the window, and at least it meant I unlocked my aura," Jack said, beginning to shrug before wincing.  
"Well, I suppose it could be worse. By the way, you got any cash?" John chortled.  
"That's a stupid way of unlocking your Aura. What if you got hurt? I was just eating breakfast earlier. You should've come down, eat, and then figure this all out. I was worried you know," Miss interjected.

"Yeah sorry, you're right. Next time, I'll get breakfast instead of almost falling to my death. Anyone tell you you’re a tsundere?" Jack replied, the snarky line coming out before he could stop himself.

"Alright that's it," Miss said, the sudden imbalance causing Jack to almost trip. But he recovered just in the right time.

Miss went to John to answer his question from earlier. "Yeah we do. Here let me get it" she grabbed her scroll and gave it to John, “Oh and by the way. Jack didn't fall. He jumped out of the window purposely because he wants his Aura unlocked."

"That actually wasn't why I jumped," Jack said, going to scratch the back of his head before quickly covering himself again. Weirdly enough, the embarrassment was fading. "I thought this was a dream and wanted to wake up," sounded stupid saying it out loud.

Zaira, about to laugh, stopped. That. that wasn't funny. That was serious. "Jack?" Zaira said slowly, "are you alright?"  
She had never had a dream that she could control before. Good dreams tended to run their course, while bad dreams tended to force her awake. But, never, not once in a dream either good or bad, had she done something that verged on what Jack did to escape this dream.

"Hang on, I didn't mean payment," John said to Miss, pushing the scroll away, "I just wanted to know if you could cover the window. I was gonna top-off."

Jack nodded at Zaira. "Yeah I'm good now. This has just been a shock, never thought this was real," Jack said, feeling guilty.

"Do you need a hug?" Zaira spread her arms.

"Oh okay sure," Miss said to John.

"No payment between friends." John said, "Missanthropy, correct?"

"Maybe when I'm dressed,” Jack replied to Zaira, embarrassed.

"Right, ya. sure. Makes sense." Zaira retreated.

"Salutations," Miss straightened her posture and did a salute. "Wow I can't believe I pulled a Penny."

John laughed, and pulled her into a side hug. "A pleasure to meet you in the flesh!"

Hearing their conversation, Jack called out to John and Miss. "We're not getting charged for the window b-by the way. They think it was their fault and are worried about being sued, so one of you should talk to the clerk some more while I shower and eat." Jack said, wanting to get clean.

"Ya, I think the next course of action is to get Jack some food and a shower. And clothes," Zaira added as an afterthought.

John gave him a thumbs up.

Jack nodded, beginning to shiver, "now can we get inside? I'm not as cold as I was yesterday but I'm still semi-naked in the snow."

"Yes, let's get you inside. We're going to need you fed and watered. John has some pretty neat information that you guys should also be aware of." Zaira grabbed onto Jack's arm, pulling him from his place in the once glass covered snow and towards the motel.

"My lady?" John said with a faux accent, offering Miss his arm.

Happy for the help, Jack smiled slightly at Zaira. "If I'm in a new world, then I'm happy that it's with you guys."

"At least somebody is acting like a gentleman cough cough Jack cough," she accepted the offer.

"Aww shucks, think nothin' of it." Zaira said, pulling off a truly horrendous southern accent. "So, let's all meet up in an hour in your room to touch base?"

John visibly cringed at the bad caricature of a southern accent. "Yes, that sounds fine with me."

Snickering a little, Jack nodded, not sure where to go from there. "I think that we're getting new rooms," Jack said. "Mine has a hole in it."

"Alright. Jack, do you need help with anything? You look all patched up thanks to your aura. Very cool, I must say." Zaira said, taking one last look over at the boy.

"He'll be fine. I'll take care of him if something happens. Granted he won't push my buttons again," Miss interjected.

"Thanks," Jack said blushing lightly as he mistook it for a compliment. "Thanks, but I'll be fine soon. Just don't know where I'm going."

* * *

Xavier examined his new clothes in the mirror of the changing room. It was a far cry from his original outfit from Earth. He wore new black combat boots with thick trousers tucked into them. His hoodie and jacket had been replaced with a white hooded thermal pull-over and a fur lined black jacket of a slash proof material he had never seen before. The gear was expensive, but it was warm and well suited to the snow. He had also had an Irish flag sewn into the arms of the jacket, a subtle but clear sign to anyone who recognized the tricolour. They'd know he wasn't from here.

He adjusted his new black beret and emerged from the changing room and did a twirl for Shadow, who was waiting on the seats in front of him in his own new clothes.

Shadow had chosen to replace his own sweaters and clothes for something more useful. He had replaced his own pair of sweaters for a fur-lined black jacket with a hood, equally as durable as Xavier’s. Underneath it was a black thermal shirt meant to trap his own body heat, though it was somewhat expensive, forcing him to take a pair of average dark-colored jeans and a pair of steel-tipped black boots.

"Up you. We need to see about some weapons. We passed a shop that looked to be selling army surplus on the cheap. We won't get anything too fancy, just enough that we stand a better chance against the next grimm we see."

“Hopefully they have something large and blunt. My accuracy last time was a fluke.”

The pair walk out of the clothing show dressed in their new gear, and saunter on to the weapon shop Xavier had seen. Inside was a fine array of military armament for surprisingly cheap

"I guess there's a lot of excess stock after the war. This would explain where the faunus got their weapons for the revolution" He muttered under his breath.

“Still kinda shocking to know we’re so far back before everything, ya know, happens.” Shadow chuckled. “I wonder if we’ll end up influencing the main cast somehow.”

Pulling up his scroll, he opened it to check his balance. “It’s a good thing you managed to find out we had some money. I’m not complaining but hopefully whatever’s left will be enough for now.”

"If it's not we're in trouble. Take a look at the stock and see if you find anything you fancy" Xavier walked over to a wall with a rack of pistols. He examined the revolvers, looking for one he was familiar with. He finally settled on what looked like a Mk. III Colt Trooper, a reliable American Classic. That settled, he next went over to a table with a range of knives on it.

He picked up a large, functional looking combat knife, testing the weight of it and examining the edge. He set it down with a wince after checking the price tag. Their hunter gear had been expensive. He picked a cheaper option instead, grabbing a sheath and walking towards the counter

Walking past the blades and firearms, the latter of which he had no training for, Shadow reached what he had been searching for. Looking around, he picked up a medium-sized mace with a spiked head, testing it for a moment.

After giving a few test swings he shook his head and set it back down. “It’s a shame Cardin ruined it for me.”

Giving another look around, he ended up finding a rather odd hammer. To be honest, it kinda looked like a super-sized toothbrush with how the head was shaped, but seeing how blunt it was, there was little chance it would get stuck in a Grimm’s flesh.

Picking it up, he found it slightly heavier than he expected, but nothing he couldn’t handle with some training or exercise. Checking the price, he winced but ultimately shrugged. It would dig a deep hole in his digital wallet but it would be worth it in his opinion.

Xavier walked up behind him "A maul huh? Not a bad pick. Hefty but simple. Easy to use too and you can always count on blunt force trauma to make a good introduction."  
He clicked is tongue and rapped his knuckle on the head of the hammer before looking back at the rack on wall

“A maul, huh? Honestly I just thought it was a weird looking hammer, ha.”  
Looking down, he added, “I see you got yourself a couple of revolvers and a knife. Mind teaching me how to shoot later on?”

"I haven't shot much but if its one thing you can count on, its that a six shooter usually has enough stopping power." He grinned and patted the new side arm. "Just the right mix of punch per round and weight to carry, as well as solid enough to break a jaw with a clean swing"

Xavier adjusted his beret. "Come on, let's buy your compensation stick and head on to the academy."

Shadow pouted at that. “It’s not compensating... much.”

Xavier laughed and ruffled Shadow's hair. "Come on kid, let's go find an airship to the Academy. If the recruitment posters are anything to go off of we shouldn't have too hard a time joining up"

Pushing off Xavier’s hand, he said, “who are you calling kid? I’m 21. I have a mustache and everything.”

"Uh buddy I don't know when you last looked in the mirror but you look a hell of a lot closer to 17 then 21"

Blinking at that, Shadow took the moment to put down his yet unpaid maul down before stepping out of the store. Looking at the window he barely made out his reflection, though it told him enough. He sat there stunned, his face familiar in an almost nostalgic way.

Stepping back into the shop, he simply walked up to Xavier, who had been patiently waiting in the same spot. “Hey, Xav. How old are you?”

"18, but the difference between that and 17 practically non existent"

Xavier ran a hand through his hair "Well this is unfortunate for you. At least we can assume the rest of the Nook boys are 17 I guess"

“Unfortunate? Pfft, at least I don’t have to go through puberty again.” Shadow replied. “Don’t forget the girls, too. Anyways, let’s just pay and get out of here. Hopefully the academy or whatever will overlook our lack of documents.”

"That's the plan. Or the hope." Xavier muttered. The pair walked to the register and payed with surprisingly few questions. Their next stop was the airship dock and hopefully, the Academy

As they were walking, hopefully towards the docks, Shadow asked, “are you sure about the academy? Like, should we even be going there?”

He shivered slightly, doubt in his voice. “I mean, that was my first fight. Ever. And we almost died.” Looking over, he glanced at his fellow’s stomach. “You almost died.”

“We could try becoming civilians again, ya know? I don’t think they’ll ask too many questions, even with your aura.”

Xavier sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'll level with you Shadow." He looked his friend in the eyes

"I'm not really sure what the hell we're gonna do here. Everything I've ever known and everyone I've ever loved is as good as gone and to our knowledge, theres no getting back." He turned and looked up at the floating city. "But what I do know is that there are others like me and you. Trust me. There has to be''

Xavier sighed and turned to face Shadow again. "I don't know what the hell we're supposed to do. But what do know is that Remnant is a world of sh*t and our best bet of not dying is to get on that airship. So I'm going to the academy and I'm doing my best to find some goddamn answers." he turned and stalked towards the docks

"And maybe I can do something worthwhile for once" he whispered to himself under his breath

Before he could get any farther, Shadow was right beside him. “Ya know? I have a hammer on me, maul, whatever. A weapon. And you have aura, which I still need to unlock.”

They continued walking forward, a pause in the conversation. “This world, seeing it from the outside, it’s awesome. Not so much when you’re in it.”

Another pause, but shorter than before. “I guess, what I’m trying to say is that, I’d feel guilty not doing anything, really. Sitting by while you-know-who sets up her chess pieces.”

He raised an eyebrow at Xavier. “Maybe we’ll beat her and end it there. Maybe we’ll change things for the better, intentionally or otherwise. Or maybe things stay the same.”

With a sigh, he finished, “only one way to find out, I guess.”

Xavier gave a bitter grin and clapped Shadow on the shoulder "If it's one thing my ancestors taught me it's that defiance in death is better than rolling over. And if Salem comes for me? I'd rather die with my gun in hand and my head held high. If we can give this Remnant a better shot at life, then it's worth trading our lives for."

"I think your right though, we cant sit by and let Salem set everything up to screw some kids over in the future. So let's get up to that Academy and figure out how were gonna take the fight to the bitch" he snarled before breaking out in a vicious grin and wrapping his arm around Shadow's shoulders.

He raised a fist in the air and shouted "Onwards! Death over dishonour!"

Giving off a smile, Shadow raised his own fist. “Deus vult! And all that jazz.”

"Haha that's more like it! Let's go!" Xavier laughed as he pulled them on

* * *

Bouncing one leg from the other, Michael walked back around the internet cafe towards Jakey on the computer. He was...surprised, at how normal it felt. There are gamers raging at the screens, students cramming with their teams, and the occasional casual staff just relaxing and making sure nobody was watching (or reading) anything explicit.

Michael found his mind wandering to their earlier talk and plan breakdown, "You didn't get my point back then, did you Jakey?"

Being too absorbed in his screen and work, Jacob stayed silent.

A sigh, "I wasn't talking about our short term plan. I'm well aware of that one. So to speak. But you misunderstand. I'm talking about what we’ll do in the future. When we finally settle in. When our life here in Remnant becomes...normal."

Jakey stopped typing

Michael tilts his head, looking at the back of his partner questioningly, "Ever wondered what about that?" He always was an abstract thinker. It's what made him...special, in a way. He thought the ideas no one ever thought of… or want to have thought about. Asking the questions no one ever asks. It's seemed to be his defining characteristic.

“I’ll leave that to you and the others when we find them. I’m not really the sort of character to decide what I’d like to do. I have to get information, find out the pros and cons of various options and take that path.” Jakey spoke like he already went through this. An intensely painful process trying to find out what made him happy… What he wanted to do. In his old life he was a screenwriter. A lover of cinema.

Unfortunately, he ended up in a world with Salem. A world where, if he was to be happy he needs to stay alive. Becoming a huntsman just made sense in that context. He was certain he wasn’t going to be particularly good at it but he could still contribute for his own sake. It was a utilitarian view of life but it’s never failed him on earth.

What will you do when life on Remnant becomes normal?

What will you do when life on Remnant becomes safe?

“I… I don’t know.” Jakey answered. The culmination of his life in search of a passion meant nothing in this world. He was going to end up aimless, alone and—

“Don’t worry about it.” Michael interrupted his train of thought as the dull colour in Jakey’s eyes faded back to normal. Michaels reassuring smile bringing up Jakey’s mood considerably.

“Anyways, How’s the search going?”

“Oh, I finally found the Atlas records website. Open for the public

"How is that supposed to help us find Nookrumbs?" Michael tilted his head. Glasses slipping before he pushed them back up.

Another sigh escaped the typing lad’s lips. "Irondad mentioned we have good records right?"

"Right,"

"So that means we got a distinction from other students in the schools we apparently went to," He rolled his shoulders for a second. "Using my student account we can view our yearbook. Considering my 24-year-old mind was put into a 17-year-olds body I assume the same happened to everyone else. That means we all graduated 'senior year,' or the remnant equivalent. We can pick out who's who by looks and name. It won't be much but it'll be a start."

"How do you keep track of these plans? Do you take notes?"

“I used to do a lot of pitch meetings,”

Another page opened up. It was getting hard to focus though, the smell of snacks and screams of anger gamers in the internet cafe left jakey on the verge of sensory overload.

"Alright control-F and ‘Jacob Carbon…” He spoke as he typed out the name in quick order.

"What happened?"

"I made the Yearbook Superlative," He began as he leaned into the yearbook picture of himself. Black hair and brown eyes staring at himself more unamused then his current self was. "Jacob Carbon, Voted most likely to write an Ozcar winning film," He read in minor shock as he tried to continue scrolling from the weirdly personal title he apparently earned.

"Michael?"

"Yeah?"

"You got one too; Michael Dorado, voted Most likely to lose a finger to a knife."

This time it was Michael's turn to stare at himself in disbelief. A minor look of distress on his face as he shoved his hands into his pockets and looked at Jakey. "If we both have one that means..."

"It's not a coincidence," Jakey's eyes lit up as he continued scrolling. The next name sticking out to him being that of-

"Jack White, That's just his name in the nook right?" Jakey continued, "Voted most likely to marry a fanus?"

"That's a weird superlative,"

"It'll make sense later. More importantly he's from the nook. Brown hair and brown eyes. That has to be him." Jakey blessed the god with who was humorous enough to give every member here superlatives. "Our 15 to 17 year old god is smiling on us," He laughed as he read off the rest of the names.

Melissa "Miss" Anthropy. Voted most likely to act tsundere.  
John Green. Voted tallest student.  
Zaira Rouge. Voted Most likely to be found in a bar in 5 years  
Shadow Myrtle and Xavier Santara. Voted Cutest bromance

Jakey could barely breath as he finished. Pain in his sides as he held a hand on Michaels shoulder to stop himself from falling over.

A few moments of laughter passed and Michael spoke, done with the joke a few moments before Jakey was. "So we got their names and faces, how do we find them? They may not even be in Mantle or Atlas anymore."

"We use public records for those. Atlas runs a kind of phone book company that details where someone lives and updates it. A real security state," He nodded as he typed in the names into a notepad-esque application and went to another site. "It's not an actual phone book though, it would be too easy to call them. But it helps narrow it down. When they pass through the border the page will update and we should be able to catch them on the way up."

Michael nods, stamping out the last drags of laughter as he stares at the computer in front of them. So there were more of them out there. It is relieving to hear that he’ll at least be able to talk to them again. He especially looks forward to another conversation with Jack.

“Well, seems like we’ve got this done,” he comments, bringing out his scroll. He writes down more of his observations regarding the nation of Atlas, adding in Jakey’s comments about it being a security state. This will come in handy, one day perhaps.

"Indeed we did," He nods as he rubs his hands together. Searches flying through the screen at a breakneck pace before stopping and slowly typing.

"Alright from now on the next time any of these people come through the border it'll check and if it changes to Atlas then we drop what we're doing and find them. We cannot miss the chance to grab them alright?"

For a moment, there is no reply. Michael simply stares at his scroll, typing things down. Then, he nods slowly, "I understand. We can always ask Chief Ironwood to notify us should they arrive, or at least give them directions to the place we're staying at."

He looks at the notes he took on his scroll. A fire burns within himself. Then, he stands, "Are we done here?"

* * *

"So.... let me get this straight... you threw yourself out the window... may I ask why?" John could only stare at Jack, holding himself back from groaning in annoyance.

"I thought it was a dream," Jack replied feeling awkwardly as he ate to his heart’s content.

The group was now sitting in Jack and Melissa's new room, fully furnished and at the expense of the motel staff. It was much larger than their old one, more of a suite and an actual room. With Jack and Miss taking up one of the couches, John sat on the other one, while Zaira was on the floor, resting her back against the seat.  
Room service had been ordered, and John and Jack were able to finally eat after a hectic morning.

"Dream or not, I don't want you jumping out of windows anymore," Zaira warned. Then, she let out a snort. "You really are Fly Guy."

"Once again, I didn't fly." Jack mumbled, "and yeah don't worry about that. Landing wasn't fun." he stuttered lightly as he played with his scroll.

Miss was so nervous that there were like four people here talking. She decided to keep quiet for now.

Scrolling through his scroll, Jack let out an excited, "yes!" when he found the songs he likes downloaded to it.

The group quieted as they all fell into their own heads. It wasn't so much an awkward silence as it was a tense one. Nobody wanted to prolong the discussion about Jack's fall, both because they were nervous to bring up what underlying issues that might have meant, as well as it being much to soon to truly laugh about it.

Jack researched the music of Remnant, cheering with a fist pump or two when he found something enjoyable. Miss looked between the rest of the group, unsure with what to do next, but glad there were more people on this crazy adventure with her. John fiddled with his scroll, flicking between websites and news articles, scouring the web for anything that may be useful in the coming days.

And Zaira? Well, Zaira was pretty sure she had planned out the perfect workout routine to get everybody into half-decent shape for the upcoming huntsmen admissions test. The first thing they had to do however, was unlock on their auras. Semblances would inevitably come later, but it was good to do one thing at a time. At least, that's what she always did.

"We're going to need to unlock our auras," Zaira said, breaking the silence. "I'd prefer not to risk injury, but as of now, we don't fully know any other proven method. I've been thinking. In the show, Pyrrha unlocks Jaune's aura with a chant of some kind. In a good deal of fanfiction, that chant or a similar variant is used. I... I don't really know how well it'll work for us. If there is some sort of action Jack'll need to do alongside the words. Or, if us being from Earth would affect our aura unlocking in some way."

Zaira looked between them all, suddenly realizing that she was giving a speech. A light blush descended onto her cheeks and she began twiddling her thumbs. "I just-I just think it would be best if Jack tries unlocking our auras. The faster we do that, the faster... the faster I'll feel safe in a world filled with literal demon-spawn monsters."

"Okay, yeah, you want me to try unlocking your aura without almost killing anyone, cool," Jack said awkwardly as he was pulled out his own little world that involved rock and punk music. "Who wants to go first?"

"Nope. Not me. I nominate John to go first," Miss said, darting behind John for cover.

"I'll do it," John said, closing his scroll and tucking it into one of his coat's inner pockets.

"Do you remember the phrase? Or are you going to do what most fanfiction writers do and create your own?" Zaira let out a small smile. It was nice to throw some levity into their strange circumstance.

"Okay sure," Jack said, nodding at him. "The first test subject. Can't really remember the phrase, but I managed to memorize how I wrote Qrow doing it in my other fic, if that's cool?" Jack said, running it over in his head. It was embarrassing, but would work. Hopefully.

John raised an eye at being labelled a "test subject" before nodding.

"Let's hope this works," Zaira said, curling her legs underneath her and half-blocking her eyes behind her hands and swath of hair.

Placing a hand on John’s shoulder, he smiled lightly wanting to try and relax him. Hopefully it worked, "Okay, this shouldn't hurt, so if it does stop me," Jack focused his attention on John, looking deep within his aura. When he felt something respond, he focused on tha.t "With the power invested in me, by the big guys upstairs and taketh away by the innkeepers skirt, I unleash the bonds on your soul and pray you never have a hangover again." Blushing as he said it, Jack felt himself tire a little before John glowed.

The aura flickered purple, before dissipating. "A curious sensation...." John looked himself over. Nothing else had felt different.

"... So, is it unlocked?" Zaira leaned forward. "Should we... should we test it?"

John pulled out a folding knife from inside his coat, and held it out to Zaira. "Cut me," he ordered.

Zaira slowly grabbed the knife, looking between the other two. "Umm, are you sure about this?"

"Hold up!" Miss tried to interrupt, but neither John nor Zaira paid much attention. Their gazes still fixed on each other.

"I'm sure," John’s voice was steadfast.

"There are better ways to test Aura than cutting yourself!?" Miss looked between the two of them. "Aaaaaand no one is noticing me," Miss pouted.

"If the aura works, then no harm done, if it doesn't, it's just a small cut. No big deal." John said, finally giving Miss his attention.

“Well....... Ok no big deal right? Just be careful," Miss leaned back, still not fully on board.

"I'll... I'll do it on your bicep or something. I don't want it to bleed too much." With a slightly shaky hand, Zaira leaned over and pressed down, slicing through John. Rather than see any damage, there was a buffer keeping the blade from penetrating skin.

"Huh. That's... that's pretty cool." Without meaning to, Zaira pushed harder on the knife.

It was like the world flickered and fell into lines of code. In a single instant, everything sped up and ground to a halt. Each of them, in the deepest recesses of their minds could hear the words, but it took them too long to consciously realize what was going on around them.

Entering Code: Aura Break

The world shifted back. It had been a split second, but in that time, John’s purple aura had fizzled out, disappearing like it had never been there before.

The blade ducked down where it was once blocked by the aura, making a nasty gash in John's arm. He yelled in pain, before holding the knife firm in the cut.

"Someone.... get me some bandages...." he said through gritted teeth.

"I'll get some!" Miss rushed towards the medicine cabinet for bandages.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" Zaira gasped, jumping back. "I'm sorry. It was like your aura was there, then shattered. I'm so, so, so sorry."

Miss came back with the bandages and antiseptic in hand.

John felt his aura return, and he pulled the knife out of the wound, a spurt of blood coming from the wound before it healed back.

"Not... your... fault..." he gasped, recovering from the pain and blood loss. As suddenly as it had disappeared, his aura had flickered back into existence. As if that blip had never happened at all.

Jack just watched, a little tired. "So, are we all okay to continue?" Jack replied, knowing first-hand how good a person's healing was with aura.

Miss was relieved that she wasn't going to use the bandages since John's Aura healed him.... But just to be safe she placed the bandages on the table for... later use.

A little shaken from what had happened, Zaira pulled her hands close to her body. The telltale signs of incoming tears flitted her eyes, making them shimmer. "I think I'll go last. Maybe... maybe later. I think I need..." Without finishing her thought, Zaira was out the door.

"Zaria wait-" he said before the door closed. "Blast it" he muttered.

Feeling like an insensitive idiot, Jack swallowed his guilt. "Should one of us go speak to her?" He asked.

"I'll go. It's my fault. You unlock Miss's aura." With that, he stood up, leaving the room as well.

Jack nodded and awkwardly saluted, feeling like he would be better at that than giving comfort. "So you want to do it now?" Jack asked, cocking his head lightly.

Miss looked over at Jack. And to the door where John and Zee went. If it could do that a guy like John. How was she going to fair?

But..... She had to do this. Otherwise she would be a burden to her friends. And it'll be unfair for them to carry her.

Miss extended her arm towards Jack. "Just.... Get it over with."

Placing a hand on her, Jack nodded as he redid the chant, once again cursing himself for not making a more normal one as he avoided eye contact until Miss glowed a bright blue, tiring himself more.

Miss wasn't expecting having her Aura to feel... this good and tingly. But the question. Did it work?

"Ok, I think I have it now. Err, do we test it?" Miss nervously said.

Not wanting to cut Miss, Jack simply flicked her forehead. “Did it hurt?"

Miss recoiled from the flick to her forehead. But to her surprise, it didn't hurt at all. "Huh. Neat it does work."

Jack hummed. "Do you think stubbing our toes would still hurt? What about stepping on lego?" Jack asked, thinking of all the painful things that shouldn't hurt anymore.

"I'm not sure how important asking that is right now, what are we going to do from now, this isn't our home," Miss replied.

"True," Jack shrugged. "I guess we can try to get into an Academy and wing it from there." He'd never been all that great at planning, so maybe he should just stick with what he knew.

"Err, I'm not sure if that's the best choice. It would probably get us killed," Miss replied, disagreeing with him.

"You're probably right, but we should wait to make any big decisions till when John and 0ne get back. For now lets just relax," Jack replied before using the headphones he had gotten from the hotel, until he fell asleep.

* * *

Xavier hated airport security. Something about them always sets off his anxiety. Maybe it was the metal detectors or the way that the security eyed him but Xavier found he hated the security checks for the airship docks as much as for planes. He reached the front of the queue as the cheerful-looking security officer asked for his ID.

Handing over his scroll and hoping for the best, Xavier was relieved to find the man nod and say "Welcome to Atlas Mr. Santara, enjoy your time at the Academy. Huntsmen-in-training are not required to surrender their weapons before boarding so you may head straight to Port 3." He gave a tired smile before calling for the next person.

Xavier was relieved, expecting to have had to try and pull a fast one and talk his way through. He looked down at the student ID open on his scroll.

Xavier Santara  
17  
Student of Atlas

It seemed Avi had done them another favour and registered them. He turned back to see Shadow walking past another booth with a similarly surprised expression.

"You registered as a student too?" He asked.

Shadow nodded, "Should make getting around a lot easier, and help avoid some awkward questions."

A thought occurred to Xavier. "Say, if we're registered, what'd you reckon the odds that the others are if there are any? We should be able to find them in the academy right?"

Shadow took a moment to think it over before shaking his head. “If they are registered, it won’t make it any easier. Right now, the academy will be filled with as many ‘recruits’ as possible.”

Sighing, he added, “It won’t be like the show where there’s only 12, 16, or 40 students in an entire year.”

“Also, my last name is Myrtle, apparently. I always liked a darker green. You?”

"Santara. Odd, never heard of it. Myrtle ain't bad though. You ever read Harry Potter?" He grinned

“Once or twice. Actually got super dizzy the second time when I tried reading without glasses.” He shivered at the memory. “Never doing that again.”

"Haha, well with a name like that we'll have to make sure you don’t kick the bucket and end up haunting a girl's bathroom" Xavier laughed. "Come on, let's find a spot for a drink before we get on board the airship"

Shadow paused for a second before asking, “Wait, what about a girls bathroom?”

"Moaning Myrtle? The ghost from the second book? Eh tough crowd I guess."

“Yeahhh. Just because I read them doesn’t mean I was actually interested in them. Besides, don’t we have better things to worry about.” At that, he gestured around him. “Like where we’re headed.”

He frowned after that. “Speaking of, I looked over our, rather surprising, records. I got near perfect in all of my classes back in wherever it says I came from. I’m assuming the same goes for you.”

His frown deepened. “That also means we’ll be living up to expectations we don’t qualify for and there’s no way to go under the radar, so to speak.”

Xavier frowned to "Yeah, I don’t like the sound of that. Talk about a blessing and a curse" He closed his eyes and stroked his beard. "Well, at least it settles where we're headed. For all the questions there’s gonna be for our grades, there'll be a hell of a lot more if we don't turn up."

“Think we could pull a Jaune? On my part, I sure hope we can.”

"We're gonna have to with grades like this. Hopefully, we can keep our heads down until we know enough to cover our asses."

“For starters, you could unlock my aura for me.” Shadow took a moment before adding, “No immortality or whatever speech. It was interesting in the show but it’d be awkward to listen to that all the while.”

"Good point." Xavier looked around before finding a less viable alcove and pulling Shadow into it. "Wouldn't do for anyone from the academy to see and get the wrong idea." He winked, before putting his hand on Shadow's shoulder. Closing his eyes and concentrating he reached out with his aura. It was a strange feeling, something within Shadow reached back, restrained but trying to break out. Xavier concentrated further and pushed towards it, feeling the two connect for a moment before Shadow's aura sprang to life within him. Without realizing it, Xavier spoke.

"For it is in duty that we achieve honour. Through this, we become the eternal guardians, and with our power stand in defence of those who cannot stand themselves. This is our unending duty and for it, I release your soul and by my blood call upon thee"

He gasped and staggered back. "Christ that takes a lot out of you" he muttered, trying to get his breath back.

Shadow took the moment to look at his hand, a dark green enveloping it. “I feel pretty good.” He turned his hand over, watching as the glow continued before slowly fading. “Better, actually.”

A few moments after, he recognized their predicament. He blinked before grabbing Xavier’s shoulder and pushing him out towards the main hallway again.

“Okay, first. I hope no one saw that because that would be awkward to explain, in more ways than one.” He looked over his shoulder, watching his companion still recovering from his aura usage. “Second, I thought I said no mushy aura speech, though it was admittedly better than expected.”

"Hey, I make it a personal rule to guarantee satisfaction," Xavier said with a grin and a wink, knowing full well what he was doing.

“I’m straight, dammit,” Shadow mumbled to himself, a small blush forming as he quickly shook his head free, before loudly stating, “We’ve wasted enough time. Let’s go find our flight.”

Xavier nodded and the pair hurried off towards their platform. The airships were quite different from what they would be in the future. Louder, slower and with much smaller capacity. Still, the ride was mostly smooth and the ascent, while slow, didn't take too long.

The aircraft settled on the landing pad with a slight jolt. The ramp on the side of the hull dropped open to reveal Shadow and Xavier standing among the students streaming out. Like many, they stopped and gawked at the beautiful, towering architecture before them. Prospective students, military personnel, and huntsmen milled around on the landing pad, hurrying to and fro.

Xavier took a deep breath and looked around. "Guess this is the real deal huh?"

“Still doesn’t feel like it, to be honest. A couple of days ago I was enjoying my boring life and now I’m in Atlas.” Shadow took the chance to glance from left to right before seeing where everyone else was going.

“Looks like there’s a checkpoint or something up ahead. Maybe to recheck documents again. Let’s go get in line.”

"Aye, let's get moving" The pair walked forward and stood in line, but Xavier could quite shake the feeling they were being watched

“All this security,” Shadow looked around, “I hate to imagine what it’ll be like in a couple of decades.” He tried not to say that too loudly. It was an odd statement, even if it wasn’t as obvious as saying there would be a dictatorship.

"Cut 'em some slack, they just had a world war and things are probably at a boiling point with Faunus tensions" Xavier muttered back. Still, he understood what Shadow meant. Going from Mantle to Atlas was like going to two different countries, and not just because of the security. Atlas was fancier and cleaner, the people were better dressed and better fed. There were also noticeably more humans. Thinking back on it, Xavier hadn't seen a single faunus officer at any of the security they had gone through. It was disconcerting, to say the least.

“I’ve got no issues with them, except those who may or may not be named Taurus, but I’d hate to be one right now.”

"It's not our priority right now anyway. Our main objective is to link up with any other Nookrumbs and then we can go about fixing society alright?" Xavier leaned back towards Shadow and muttered "Speaking of, there's a lady the other side of the gates that’s been eyeballing us since we stepped off the aircraft."

Forcing himself not to look, Shadow muttered back, “Are ya sure it’s not the oversized hammer on my back?” He chuckled lightly before continuing. “Leave her be. Maybe they’ll come to us. Maybe not. Either way, you’re up for screening.”

Xavier scowled and rest his right hand on his pistol. "If they're looking for trouble I'm happy to provide. I've never been much of a fan of starters".

Shadow quickly put a hand on his shoulder. “How about we don’t do that next to the security checkpoint, hm? Now hurry up, before we draw even more attention.”

At that, he pointed towards the empty checkpoint with the officer giving them a look.

As the teens headed through the gate to Atlas freedom they would see a young man approach. Scroll in hand as his eyes darted from an image and their faces. Voice out of breath seeming like he ran here.

"Shadow and Xavier?" He said before taking a deep breath. "I'm Jakey from the Nook,"

The two boys looked at each other for a moment before looking back at Jakey. At that, Shadow spoke up. “Righhht. Not that we were trying to hide it, but what gave it away?”

"We can flashback to that later. Right now we should probably..." Jakey paused and looked at the metal on their bodies. Squinting his tired eyes to look at them. "Oh, you guys already got weapons, great. I landed with Para and we have a base of sorts for everyone to use before we try out for Atlas academy." He motioned off in a general direction ushering the men to follow him.

Xavier eyed him cautiously before shrugging and extending a hand "Xavier, it's good to see another friendly face."

"Jacob," He said as he reached out his own and shook it.

It was comforting having more allies though most of Jakey's mental space was occupied by the messy appearance of the home he was going to be bringing the boys to. Michael better have vacuumed...

"Follow me, I'll fill you guys in on how I figured it out and what's happened so far for us,"

* * *

The air outside was cold. Frigid even. Or maybe it was just Zaira’s rapidly declining mood that made everything feel that way. It made the snowy streets a bright off-white and the sky and dull grey. It made every stranger seem as though they were looking at her as she passed by. Judging her.

She sniffled, wiping at the tears which fell from her eyes, raining down in an endless, unceasing downpour which made her want to just shout out and curse the world.

But no.

It was just her, alone with her tears, her sorrow, her panic, and her endless grey. Except for the reds. Those were vibrant. The violent shade was everywhere. In the scarves of young kids, a scroll a businessman was carrying, a car that swerved through an equally red stop sign. It was just like John’s arm. John’s arm that had a knife sticking into it.

She meant to do a small cut. She really did mean to. But then she was blocked by that strange purple glow. She was fascinated by it. Too fascinated. Too engrossed in what was now surrounding him. Aura was a marvel that just made her brain work in overdrive trying to figure out the strange sensation of cutting into it. Trying to figure out how it could possibly work. Possibly exist.

And in that moment, when all her concentration was off the sharpness of the blade, it tore through skin. It had been so deep, in her eyes. Blood flowed freely from the wound and Zaira’s heart had leapt into her throat.

She ran.  
Of course, she ran.  
That’s who Zaira was. She should have stayed and helped get bandages. Helped with anything. She shouldn’t have suggested testing out his aura. She should have thought of something else. Something less barbaric is slicing her friend with a knife.

She had needed her space at that moment. It wasn’t like she was claustrophobic. Not at all. But at that moment, there were just too many people.

She felt better now, being alone. Still horrible, but at least the walls weren’t closing in around her anymore. Now it was just the continual ache in her heart and mind at having injured someone like that. Sure, she fought people before. She was a martial artist after all. She had done some… equally as terrible things to other people before, as well.

Zaira knew why she hated herself so much at that moment.

She thought she had outgrown it. That tendency to let her mind wander in such dangerous or risky situations. She had worked so hard for so long to try and keep focused. One thing at a time. Full attention on that kick. Gauge how much power is in that punch.

Watch the distance. Don’t strike too haphazardly. Pick a location, choose a distance, watch your strength. One thing at a time, until the action was over.  
Pay attention to the sharp knife you’re holding over your new friend’s arm.

She had been too excited and she had let herself slip and she hated herself for it.

She crossed a street, along with a handful of other people, moving into what could quite possibly be referred to as the slums of the city. It hadn’t been her intention, but her mindless wandering had brought her there, and it wasn’t like she was going to stop and turn back. Not yet anyway.

There were more people outside than in the ‘cleaner’ part of the city. But it held a different sort of population, that was for sure.  
Zaira couldn’t help but stare, momentarily sidetracked by the sight of a person with animal ears. People with tails. “Faunus,” she whispered to herself, blushing lightly at the memory that many Faunus had superior hearing.

Digging her hands into the front pocket of her sweater, she trudged forward, trying not to look at anyone or give them a hard time. Still, it was like people were looking at her.

There weren’t many humans in the area.

Any humans really. Except for her.

But she couldn’t think about that too much. She had more pressing things to worry about. Like how John would react when she inevitably returned to the motel.

So lost in her thoughts was she, that she hadn’t noticed a few people start following her.

Zaira stopped, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand once again. Her tears staining her sweater.

“Zaira!”

She turned to the voice. John was running towards her.

The men that had once been surrounding her melted back into the slums.

“John!” Zaira cried out, rushing into a tight hug. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry that I hurt you. I should have been paying more attention. I should’ve- I shouldn’t have even suggested you test out your aura. That was stupid. I was stupid.”

A few minutes before...

John dashed through the streets, coat flapping in the wind.

Damn it, why am I so stupid! he thought, as he looked left and right.

It didn't take too long at his pace to reach what could only be considered the slums. He spotted Zaira, and called out to her, "Zaira!"

She turned, and slammed into him, pulling him into a tight hug. She began babbling as John returned the tight hug, her face burying unto his chest, considering her short stature.

"Shh..... shh..... it's not your fault. It was an accident. If anyone's at fault it's me for making you use the knife, and for letting my aura drop." He said, patting her back a bit.

should have thought ahead." Zaira said, tears no falling freely. "I should've paid my attention."

The two descended into silence, broken only by Zaira's occasional whimper or sniffle. And still, John did not release the hug, letting the shorter, but mentally older girl get out all of her emotions from the past day.

"Feeling better?" He asked, pulling back slightly so Zaira could look at him.

"Ya, I think so." Zaira sniffed, dabbing wiping at her eyes with a sleeve, trying to remove any tear tracks. "Thanks. I'm sorry."

"No need to be. Ready to head back?" he asked, pulling back a bit so they could look each-other in the face.

Despite her cleaning, her eyes were still read from crying. He shifted his coat so it covered them both, so those around them couldn't see her disheveled appearance.

Zaira nodded, "ya. Let's go."

John stepped back, and turned his back to her. "Wanna ride?" he asked with a joking smile.

Zaira gave him a somber smirk, "maybe next time, John. I should probably apologize to Jack and Miss for freaking out, shouldn't I..."

"Perhaps, though I don't think anyone would blame you for freaking out. Seeing blood for the first time, especially when you inflict it is shocking for anyone."

"Heh, ya. I chose my major to work with machine oil and grease, not blood." Zaira scratched at her back.

"Most people don't. Unless their butchers I suppose."

"Actually," Zaira said, changing the topic. "Maybe you can unlock my aura? Before we get back? I... I'm not sure I want to do it in front of everyone."

She fiddled with her sleeves. "Not that I don't trust Miss or Jack, but... if you could trust me to have aura, even after all that, then maybe I'd be worth having it. You can say no if you want to. Actually, forget everything I said, let's go."

Zaira started to walk off.

John grabbed her shoulder, and stopped her. He didn't say a word as his aura flashed, then Zaira's flashed as it was unlocked. “Hah... how's that for an answer?"

Her aura shimmered around her, a dark crimson red speckling around her, filling her body with energy the likes of which she had never had before. Her fingers and toes tingled from the sensation. It was like the wind had been knocked out of her, while simultaneously taking the first clean breath of air in her life.

Finally she gasped out a breath. "Whoa."

A tear flickered in her eye, which she quickly blinked away. "You're trusting me. Th-thank you for trusting me."

John gave her a gentle gibbs slap on the back of her head. "What about it not being your fault doesn't get through that thick head of yours?" he asked with a kind smile.

Zaira smiled. "We can agree to disagree about that. Now, let's head back to our friends."

"Sure thing pipsqueak." he said with a cheeky grin.

"Hey, I'm still older than you, you know?" She laughed.

"Doesn't change the fact you barely come up to my chest."

"Pfft. It lets me look at you from your good side."

"How would you know? You've never seen me from any other side but below."

"With age comes wisdom. And it is my great wisdom that has told me to not bother looking at any other angle. No other reason."

"You realize the difference is only... 4 years right? Not to mention we'd be graduating at the same time."

"Shh," Zaira said, waving him off. "Minor details. You will understand when you reach my age."

"Oh? you need a cane old lady?" John smirked.

"Yes, I would love one. Maybe to smack you in your shins. But for now, I think I can manage." She smiled.

"Alright then you old hag, just don't expect me to carry you."

"We'll see, you big lug. We'll see."

"I'm flattered you think I'm a lug, but I'm sorry to inform you," he said, pushing his coat back to show his bony form, "I’m not particularly muscle bound."

Zaira lightly punched his shoulder. "We'll fix that up in no time."

"Why do I suddenly have a feeling of foreboding?"

* * *

Jack continued to sleep softly. Miss played around with her scroll, finding an ebook to read and getting into that. When John and Zaira returned, they were chuckling, nudging each other at some joke that the others weren't privy to.

"Hello young padawans!" Zaira said with a clap. "I think it's about time we get registered for that Atlas Admissions Test, and begin some workout training."

"That's gonna be something. Are you sure we're ready?" Miss asked John.

"As ready as we can be. I've got to make a stop by an arms dealer, and pick us up some equipment. Any of y'all want to come with?" John responded.

"Can someone wake up Jack?" Zaira nodded towards his sleeping body.

"Ooooh. I'm in!" Miss said, accepting the invitation. She always did want a weapon.

"Alright, Zaira, any requests?" John glanced over at her. Zaira was busy poking at the sleeping Jack, who waved her off sleepily.

Thinking for a minute, she knew what she wanted. "A staff. Maybe about five and a half feet? Maybe 5'10 at most? Light metal if possible."

Hearing all the noise and bothered by the annoying poking, Jack rolled over before falling off the sofa with a thump. He let out a pain-filled groan.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty,” John said. “I'm hitting the stores, I need clothing sizes and any weapon preferences."

Jack groaned, taking a moment to comprehend the question before blinking the sleep from his eyes. "Err, I'm a large to medium dress size, you mind picking comfort over looks? Oh, and a weapon, huh," Jack said, taking a moment to think it through. He was not all that quick or precise, so why not look for something power oriented? "You know that axe-hammer weapon from Infinity War? Stormbreaker it's called, do you mind getting me something like that?" Jack replied, trying to get a weapon that would suit him.

"Just get him a heavy axe or something. We'll deal with a more faithful weapon for him once slash if we get into Atlas Academy." Zaira said, shewing her partner and Miss away.

Jack nodded, finding that to be the best call.

"Alright, Miss, let's head out." John waved them goodbye.

With John gone, Jack saw that it was snowing outside. He hummed awkwardly, not sure what to say to 0ne.

"So... Jack? How are ya doin'?" Zaira said sweetly. Something that immediately sent off alarm bells in Jack's head.

Instinctively leaning away, Jack shrugged. "Feeling a little sore, b-but I've had worse, you?" Jack replied, stuttering lightly.

"I'm good, I'm good. Say..." Zaira's eyes twinkled. "I'm just thinking about doing a little workout. Maybe seeing how fit I am for huntress-ing. Big, strong man like yourself. Want to help me out?"

"That depends on what it is," Jack replied, nodding his head. "Cardio doesn't seem like all that fun right now," he added To be fair, when has cardio ever been fun for him?

"Oh don't worry. You're gonna love it."

Jack paled.

* * *

"So..... What weapon did you think of using?" Miss casually asked. They were walking towards the weapon smith in town.

"Not sure, i'll have to look and see. I'm thinking of a sword of some sort."

He pulled out a scroll, and looked at the address. "Hrm... he's a good bit away from here, on the less wealthy side of town."

Miss contemplated on what weapon she should use. As much as she hated combat and wanted to avoid it if necessary. In a world full of Grimm and bad people. She would rather be armed with a sword.

"Yeah same, maybe a sword with a huge arm guard or something."

"Sword pals!" John said, hold his fist out for a bump.

"Nice!" Miss responded with a fist bump of her own.

"First things first though, we gotta get you and Jack some clothes. Unless you intend to walk around in a cosplay outfit for the rest of your life."

Miss being the weirdo that she was, posing while holding her hips. "Yeah but I look good in this," she smiled nervously as John looked at her unimpressed. "Yeah. Clothes. Gotcha," being thoroughly embarrassed by this.

"Alrighty then." John said, before turning to enter a clothing shop.

Entering the shop. Miss was greeted with rows and rows of clothes on display. She wasn't much of a clothes expert but she was still impressed.

They didn't spend long in the shop, both leaving with a bag of clothes, one for Jack, and one for Miss.

"Alright, now, we've got to head to the slummy side of the city. Sure you still want to come?"

"I'll be okay. Let's go!"

John nodded, and strode at a quick pace towards the slums.

* * *

"So let me get this straight," A very exasperated Xavier said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We get transported to a fictional world and you assholes find our identities using a yearbook? How does that exist!? What school did we even go to!? Why the hell was I not voted tallest!!?"

Xavier's ramblings were cut off by Jakey stopping in front of a reasonably large, semi-detached house.

“Just accept the plot convenience, I meant for my story to be a bit more coherent but it just ended up that way, Not like I can control everything in my life." He muttered as he began walking up the steps and motioned for the boys to follow him. The house looked like it belonged in this suburb even though the suburb didn't look like it belonged in the area. Buildings and blue aesthetics gave a bit of a clash.

From the outside, the whole thing looked pretty big. It was certainly bigger than the house Jakey grew up in even though it evoked the same homey feeling.

"Welcome to 'Casa Den', He motioned as he knocked on the door a few times."

"Not a bad spot you've got here" Xavier noted, looking around the building. "Where'd you get the money?"

"Did I not mention the dead old lady?" Jakey tilted his head trying to recall the conversation prior. "She was really wealthy. Though it seemed she was going to retire her murderous ways and move into his house."

"...Well steal from the rich and give to the poor I suppose." Xavier chuckled "This should certainly be of good use."

Before Jakey could respond the door opened. With Para staring at Jakey as he motioned for them to enter.

"Oh this is Michael, you would know him as Paracelsus I think." He nodded as Jakey began removing his jacket. "Michael this is Xavier and Shadow, Their names are self-explanatory for who they are from the nook." He said as he threw his jacket onto a rack and continued his walk inside the house. The entire place was fully furnished. Framed paintings and various other details scattered around. It looked like one of those model homes you went to as a community was being built.

"So, how many other nooks are there out there?" Xavier said, sitting down at a large table in the kitchen

"Jakey!" A tiny voice shouted out as a small girl jumped out of a nearby closet and rushed in to grab his legs. Jakey looked a little embarrassed as he patted the girl’s head clumsily and spoke.

"Jakey has some friends over right now. He can play later?" He said at the child as she loosened her death grip and walked over towards another door. Pointing fingers at her eyes back towards him as she went away.

"Later, but I totally scared you!" She whispered dramatically as she made her way down the steps and out of sight.

"Sorry about that, this house has a family living downstairs we didn’t know about. They aren't nook members though so be mindful and train the backyard. As far as I know, we have four more members" He said as he pulled out his scroll. Four faces attached to names showing off Miss, Jack, Zaria and John. "I'm pretty certain who everyone but Zaria is."

Xavier looked over the faces before him on the scroll, "Do we have any idea on the identity of the last one? Or the location of any of them?" He asked pointing at Zaria's photo

“I can’t be one hundred percent sure about identities. But for location, we can find that out the moment they cross into Atlas. Mine and Michael's scrolls will go off and pretty much alert us when they get approved to arrive. It's how I managed to find you guys,"

"They’re still in Mantle? No point going looking for them so." He hummed. "What's the plan so? Set up here more and wait for them to come to us?"

"That's about it" He shrugged. As he motioned for the men into the kitchen with Michael sitting.

He looks at the new arrivals, supposedly other members of the Nook. He smiles wanly at them, "Hey. Fancy seeing you all here," Michael will be the first to admit that he never talked to Shadow or Xavier that much, though his brief interactions with them made him think that at least they're approachable.

"I suppose Jakey has filled you both in?" The lady, buried beneath the snow. The shed, locked up and forgotten. The knife, heavy in his pocket. Michael closes his eyes, shunning the memories and the guilt.

Xavier looked Michael up and down, seeing through in an instant. He walked over to the other boy and pulled him into a tight hug.

"It wasn't your fault," he whispered softly. "You protected yourself and your own. You did the right thing" He pulled back slightly and pointed at Michael's face. "We look after our own. Never forget that." He said sternly before hugging him again.

Shadow, for his part, walked up and patted him on the shoulder. “It was self-defence. Know that what you did, you did to stay alive.” He gave him a sad smile before adding, “Hard to believe a killer old lady was the first thing both of you ran into. I think I’d take any Grimm over that.”

Michael freezes for a moment. Then, he returns the hug, letting out a deep sigh. After a moment, he backs away, looking at both Shadow and Xavier, before giving them a smaller, most honest smile, "Thanks."

So this is what it's like to have friends to look out for you...it is a heartening experience, at the very least. Michael wipes away the tear that forms in his eyes, before nodding, "I guess we have our team now. This makes four of us."

Jakey took his walk towards the group of teens speaking. Only catching the last part as he spoke.

"Glad to see us getting along. If this is going to be our first team I suppose we should probably vote on a leader. Unless you wanna make a phone call to a century-year-old spirit and make him choose for us,"

"Hah! Not likely. My hope was to fly under his radar, whoever he is right now. As for picking team lead, I'll nominate myself if no one objects."

Jakey gave a bit of a soft look before speaking up. "Well... I think based on prior events I might be a decent pick for team leader. I made the plan to bring us together after all"

“You also lead the both of you to a death trap.” Shadow deadpanned, before sighing. “I’ve never been the one to lead. Besides, who says we’ll end up as a full team? Isn’t that up to the academy and whatever scheme involving being thrown off a cliff they have?”

“Everyone is talking about why we should be leader,” Michael mutters, turning to look back outside the window, “but not why we shouldn’t be the leader? We hardly know each other. We need to communicate with each other more before making a choice like this.”

He breathed for a moment, “I for one, tend to be a bit of a...gloryhound. I’m assertive at times, sometimes too much. And well...I’m really, really, anxious at times.”

Jakey stared at the attempt at invoking a trope and cut through it.

"The truth is we don't know how things are going to go. We might not end up with each other as a team but we should at least know what to do in our situations. We need to keep each other alive. Having a leader could help prioritize that and not leave us scatterbrained. If or when we are in danger.."

"It might be better to leave it for now," Xavier sighed "Like Shadow said, there's no guarantee that we'll end up on a team anyway. Plus no offense but I don't exactly know either of you well enough to trust you to lead us"

Michael sighs, “Well if we can’t decide now then perhaps, it’s best we operate without one until then. For now, let’s just try to plan what we’re going to do next.”

"Let's just live," Jakey sighed as he laid back in his chair and stared at the ceiling hating himself for the reference.

"I refuse," Michael says bluntly, "Living. I don't want that," he straightens, black eyes gleaming darkly, "We've been sent to a whole new world. Think of it, we could actually be something. No longer are we just numbers on a paper. We could be Huntsman. Hell, we could change this world with our knowledge."

"Shut up Micheal, we're not becoming gods,"

* * *

**Omake**

Jack felt himself relax in the shower, after suffering torture from 0ne he had longed for some warm water on his body it helped to to ease his sore muscles. It's funny he thought he was like this on his first night in Remnant and now here he was again on what he was sure to be the second day in the same position. Here he had thought that aura would stop muscle soreness.  
As he hummed a tune Jack washed himself with the fancy soaps that the hotel people were nice enough to supply them with, when he was done with his body and face, he dropped the soap on the floor by accident not he being bothered to pick it up yet he decided to pick it up when he was done but for now, he was going to do his hair. With the soap in his hair and eyes clenched shut Jack stepped back into the water to wash it off.  
looking back he probably should have not dropped the soap and left it there as his footing slide and he tripped backwards, his back was first to hit the glass door, and under his weight it was unable to hold braking off and hitting the floor with him lying on it as it as a smashing sound filled the room.

The pain he felt in his back from the shards stabbing into him as he lied there not wanting to move made him let out a stream of curses that would make John look at him in disapproval.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, this is a collaborative fic from members of the Nook discord server. It's been made by me MissAnthropy, SrloJohn, Sr Paracelus, ShadyJakey, 0neWhoWondsrs, Shadow and Xavier.


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